CODE BREAKER, SPY HUNTER: Picture Book Biography, a Mini-Author Interview, Plus a Giveaway!

Don't you love this cover? 

Besides being captivating, the title informs the reader EXACTLY what to expect from Code Breaker, Spy Hunter  (Abrams Books, 2021). Written by Laurie Wallmark and illustrated by Brooke Smart, this book will be good for students from 7-10 years old. As you look through these illustrations, make sure you read Elizebeth's quotes that are cleverly "hidden" within the illustrations!

REVIEW

Similar to many picture book biographies I have reviewed, Code Breaker has a brief glimpse into Elizebeth's childhood.  But there's a catch: this glimpse is provided after the reader meets Elizebeth as an adult working as a cryptanalyst and a spy catcher. In some ways, the book is a flashback from that introduction on the first two pages. 

This glimpse into her childhood comes next. 

Elizebeth loved languages and studied English literature, Latin, Greek, and German in college. After going to Chicago to get a job in research or literature, she met George Fabyan, an eccentric millionaire who hired her to prove that Shakespeare's play were written by someone else. Although she never proved his hypothesis to be correct, she shared her conclusions with a scientist friend, William Friedman. Not only did he agree with her conclusion, but their friendship turned to love, and within a year they were married.

After the United States entered WWI in 1917, the government needed people to decode spy messages. Elizebeth and William set up the country's first code-breaking unit, the Riverbank Department of Ciphers. Their ground-breaking techniques became the basis for cryptology--the study of secret codes. 

The couple moved to Washington, DC to work as code breakers for the Army's Signal Corps. Together, Elizebeth and William invented a scientific method to create ciphers--complicated codes--using only a pencil and paper. This was a necessary invention in order for field soldiers to send secrets.

After the war ended, Elizebeth stopped working full time in order to write books and start a family. 

Elizebeth was hired by the Coast Guard hired her to catch bootleggers, she testified at criminal trials, and she trained the staff for the Coast Guard's first code-breaking unit. 

But her home and family were also important to her. 

When the United States entered WWII, the Office of Strategic Services had gathered communications from around the world, but they were unable to break their codes. Enter Elizebeth. She created another code-breaking unit and hired and trained mathematicians, physicists, and chemists. 

After Elizebeth helped capture Nazi spies, the U.S. Postal Service asked for her help. They had seized letters from an American spy; on the surface they appeared to be about buying and selling dolls. But Elizebeth decoded the real message. 

The war's "Number One Woman Spy" was sentenced to ten years in prison. Elizebeth wrote, "It is obvious that even a casual examination of these letters, indicates their suspicious nature."

Elizebeth's work was top secret. She was even threatened to be put in prison if she spoke about it to anyone--even her family! Thirty-five years after her death her secrets were finally declassified. 

BACK MATTER

Five pages of interesting back matter concludes this book. The first is dedicated to "Codes and Ciphers" and includes instructions on how to decode the Caesar cipher written on the ribbons throughout the book. The second page is step by step directions for cracking a code, the third is information on Cryptology today--including hints for creating online passwords. The last two pages, a timeline and bibliography, are the end pages--what a clever use of space in this 42-page picture book!

Teachers and home school educators: Click here for a teacher's guide. 

AUTHOR INTERVIEW:

CAROL: How did you get interested in Elizebeth?

LAURIE: I have always found codes and ciphers fascinating. As a child I would create them and write notes that no one else could read. I found out about Elizebeth in Jason Fagone’s book, The Woman Who Smashed Codes. After reading her story, I knew she had to be a subject for one of my women in STEM picture book biographies. There’s also an excellent new YA book about her by Amy Butler Greenfield, The Woman All Spies Fear. 

CAROL: This book seems longer than most picture books with a longer word count. In a publishing world of tight word counts, how did you swing that? 

LAURIE: I seem to be able to get away with longer word counts than others. I can’t tell you why. This book, at 48 pages, not only has more text words, about 2,200, but quite a bit of back matter, too. It was quite a trick fitting it all in.

CAROL: What was your favorite part about writing this? 

I think most of us who do any writing of nonfiction love doing the research. It’s delightful finding that special nugget of information that you know adds a little extra something to your book. The hard part is know when to stop researching and start writing.

LAURIE: Can you speak a little bit about the research involved?

I always start my research by reading books. That gives me a good overview of the person’s life and helps me figure out how I’m going to structure my book. Then it’s time to dig deeper. With Elizebeth, I’m lucky that many of her papers and photographs, both personal and professional, are archived in the George C. Marshall Foundation collection. I’m especially lucky that even during a pandemic, the librarian was able to help me with my questions. (Thank you, librarians everywhere!)

CAROL: It was fun to discover that Elizebeth’s quotes are hidden in the illustrations. Was this your idea or your illustrator’s?

 

LAURIE: I had used quotations in the illustrations with two of my previous books, GRACE HOPPER: QUEEN OF COMPUTER CODE and HEDY LAMARR’S DOUBLE LIFE. I believe the original idea was mine, but I wouldn’t swear to it. What’s different in this book is the ribbons of code that swirl around several of the pages. The illustrator had put in random letters to represent coded messages. I suggested that the letters should actually be coded messages. It was a lot of extra work for me to give Brooke the codes, her to hand letter the ribbons, and me to check them. I live in fear that a ten-year-old will find I’ve made a mistake. If you look closely at the cover, you'll see the ribbon of code.

 

Here is my husband's uncle, Robert Toupal, proving that
picture books are for all ages! 
(Don't tell anyone, but he turned 92 yesterday!)

GIVEAWAY

Leave a comment by 6 PM on November 6 to enter this giveaway. Educators and librarians--you will get an extra chance if you tell me where you work. US addresses only. I am featuring this book in the January issue of Talking Story on "Behind the Scenes of War" and if you're a subscriber (if not, follow the link above and hit "subscribe") you'll have another chance to win the book if you don't win now. Please leave me your email address if you are new to my blog--if not, I can't enter your name!

Congratulations to Esther Bandy, a new follower, who won Kathleen Burkinshaw's audiobook of THE LAST CHERRY BLOSSOM. 

Liesl's Ocean Rescue and a Giveaway!

Congratulations to fellow blogger, Rosi Hollenbeck, who won an autographed copy of Maggie Dana's book, "Riding for the Stars."

******

Liesl's Ocean Rescue, an historical picture book struck a personal chord for me. It begins with the awful events that surrounded Krystallnacht; an event which deeply affected my paternal grandparents. Like Liesl the main character in Barbara Krasner's story, my mother also escaped Nazi Germany at a young age and took an ocean voyage to America. But unlike Liesl, my mother's ship docked in New York City and her family quickly traveled to Ohio to establish a new home.

Based on the true story of Liesl Joseph Loeb's voyage on the MS St. Louis, Liesl's journey was different. When the ship attempted to enter Havana on the way to America, the Cuban government refused permission to dock. After almost a week of negotiations, the ship--filled with over 900 individuals trying to escape concentration camps--was forced to return to Europe. Although Liesl's family came to America two years later, over two hundred of their fellow passengers did not survive the war. 

Although every page is full of black and white illustrations by artist Avi Katz, this poignant picture book will best be appreciated by children from 8-10 years old. It will enhance classroom instruction about the Holocaust, bring alive the difficulties that immigrants often face, and offer a great starting point for discussions about war and freedom. A teacher's guide can be found here.

I would like to pass along my gently-used Advanced Readers Copy of this book. To enter, leave me a comment by Friday, November 28. If you are a teacher or plan to donate the book to a classroom library, let me know and I'll enter your name twice.