My eight-year-old son is on a secret agent kick right now. He runs around the backyard talking into an old, bulky, non-working digital watch I gave him, and plots the overthrow of evil villains. I’m pleased to say our backyard is certified villain-free. (Unless you count the mosquitoes, but I think they’re the henchbugs of a distant insect overlord.)
He’s also gotten interested in secret codes, so for his birthday, we got him a copy of Top Secret: A Handbook of Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing, by Paul Janeczko. It’s a wonderful collection of codes and ciphers, kid-friendly, but more than just simple letter substitution. It has great explanations and diagrams, interspersed with historical anecdotes about how codes and ciphers have been used throughout history. I’m also particularly pleased the illustrations in the book show both female and male spies, and the pronouns alternate between male and female. Lots of fun, and highly recommended if you’re raising a junior James Bond or Emma Peel.
My son’s going into third grade, and a few of the concepts are a bit of a stretch for him, but he’s enjoying much of it, and it will likely last him until well into middle school. (Of course, the problem is that I need to read and understand it by then so I can decrypt any messages he writes to his friends once he hits those sneaky tween years.)
What are your kids reading these days that you’d recommend?
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