World War II was a difficult time for the world. It can be difficult to understand everything that happened, especially if you’re just a kid. That’s why Spies, Code Breakers, and Secret Agents is such a fantastic book. It offers kids a way to learn about the war by learning all about those who worked in secret to help change the balance of power so the Allies could win the war.
While the narrative focuses on the spies, there is an awful lot of information about the war in general, about the countries involved and the major battles and the world leaders who were making the decisions. But this book hones in on the spy agencies that each country used and how they recruited and trained their agents. There is information about the equipment they used, like the glove that is also a pistol or the false teeth with a hidden compartment for negatives or a ring that could hold poison.
Author Carole Roman uses important points in the war to demonstrate how spies made a big difference, like how they fed misinformation about D-Day to the Germans. While the Allies planned to attack at Normandy, the secret agents told the Germans other locations for the attack, so the German army moved resources away from Normandy, and the Allies were able to win that battle.
She talks about the super spies like Tokyo Rose and Fritz Kolbe, but she also mentions the famous individuals who were recruited to act as spies because they traveled a lot. Julia Child is well known to have helped as well as the creator of James Bond Ian Fleming and children’s book author Roald Dahl. There is a shoutout to the Native American code talkers that the American army used, their native language unable to be broken, as well as the British code breakers from Bletchley Park who were able to crack the German code used in their Enigma machines.
Spies, Code Breakers, and Secret Agents offers a fascinating look at World War II, from a genuinely interesting perspective. There are more resources for those who want to learn more, a bibliography, and a glossary. And the book is designed to celebrate the spies it’s teaching us about, from the dots and dashes of Morse code to the notes that include black marks to look like redactions. Any kids wanting to learn more about World War II, about spies, or about codes will glean a lot of good information from this book.
Full disclosure: I am not a kid. But I’ve always loved codes and I like spy stories a lot. So I really enjoyed this book, and I learned a lot about how the secret agents worked behind the scenes to being the war to an end, and I am so grateful they did!
A copy of Spies, Code Breakers, and Secret Agents was provided by Rockridge Press through the Callisto Media Publisher’s Club, with many thanks.