Spy Codes and Ciphers

Children's Literature - Greg M. Romaneck

If you are the type of person that loves a good crossword, solving mazes, or working through a complex jigsaw puzzle you will enjoy perusing the pages of this selection from "The Secret World of Spies" series. In this book author Susan K. Mitchell traces the history of codes, ciphers, and the men and women who attempt to break them. In telling this story Mitchell reveals just how complex many of these codes are. Even in an age of computer assisted code breaking, there remain what seem to be unassailable secrets. Mitchell shares one such conundrum when she writes about the Kryptos sculpture. Commissioned by the CIA in 1990, this sculpture was created by Jim Sanborn and remains on display at the agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia. On the sculpture the artist embedded four messages in various codes. Over a period of years three of the codes were broken by expert cryptologists. As of 2010, the fourth message remains indecipherable. With this one story Mitchell reveals the intellectual and actual power that codes and ciphers can exert. Beyond this singular story, Mitchell also does a fine job of discussing Native American "code talkers" whose unusual linguistics were used as clear code in World War II and several other innovative aspects of codes. Through these types of fascinating tales Susan K. Mitchell crafts a story about secret codes, their applications, and efforts to defeat them that will inform and entertain her readers. Reviewer: Greg M. Romaneck