Alvin, AKA Secret Agent K-21 1/2, accidentally finds a message written in a secret code. Is someone spying on the defense plant in town? He sets out to solve the mystery with his trusty sidekicks Agent Q-3 and The Pest. Soon, he begins learning about ciphers, codes, and codebreaking with the help of a retired and bedridden WWII spy, which allows him to solve the mystery. Meanwhile, a new puzzle has arrived with one Miss Fenwick, a mysterious Mr. Smith, and a cryptic message.
Today, it seems like novels for kids have followed Hollywood in introducing some exciting event first and then sharing bits about the characters as the story evolves while keeping up the excitement. Alvin's Secret Code was written before that storytelling development and introduces the characters first, so it seems a bit slow to get started. However, the action gets going around the third page and the story is fairly well-paced after that.
The story introduces substitution ciphers, codes, scytales, and symbol ciphers. There is even an appendix with additional information on cryptography, including key word substitution ciphers, the Alphabet Box, and a common Civil War cipher. The appendix also includes frequency tables of letters and some hints on how to break ciphers along with a few practice exercises.
Hicks was a professional writer and editor for most of his life, but in WWII he served as a USMC officer on Guam and Bougainville and, according to Wikipedia, earned the Silver Star. In his biography at the back of the book it states that "In the service he learned something about codes and ciphers, a subject he had studied briefly in college." My guess would be that he did something in intelligence, but a short search didn't turn up anything more specific.
If you know kids who like solving puzzles, I would recommend this book.
Update: To make this review a little less sketchy, I'll add that the story part is only about 132 pages long, and the appendix adds about 15 pages. I read it all in 2 evenings, and I enjoyed it as well, even though I'm considerably older than 12.
6 comments:
One of my favorites, even now (born in 59). Picked up a used copy when my kids were young. Still have it. - DJ
Apparently a local author from my perspective; he was a resident of Brevard, in next-door Transylvania County.
https://www.transylvaniatimes.com/obituaries/clifford-b-hicks/article_5922176a-80e8-5516-ad3b-792611581006.html
DJ, yes, I should add that I enjoyed the book myself and adults who are interested in learning a bit about cryptography could find it a good way to start.
Grim, that's neat. One of the historical villains in the book is a former Union spy, which I thought was an interesting choice.
You should be aware that "sketchy" has acquired a meaning of disreputable now.
Yes, I thought the double entendre would add an amusing element to the title, as "disreputable book review" seems a bit oxymoronic. Maybe it's just confusing, though.
Looking it up, what's interesting is that dubious or disreputable would have been my first definition for the word but it's only third on the list over at the Free Dictionary:
sketch·y (skĕch′ē)
adj. sketch·i·er, sketch·i·est
1. Resembling a sketch; drawn with little detail: a sketchy map.
2. Missing important points or lacking in detail; not thorough: sketchy evidence; sketchy memories.
3. Informal
a. Of questionable authenticity or trustworthiness: a sketchy accent; a sketchy character.
b. Of dubious safety; potentially harmful or dangerous: a sketchy neighborhood.
I proof a lot of 100-year-old YA books at the Gutenberg site and am often impressed by how adult they are by today's standards. The kids are adult by modern moral and intellectual standards while still children sexually, and not yet cynical, a trend that has now been reversed.
The literary technique of revealing the mystery slowly used to be standard, too. It was the classic "slice of life" approach to a disaster movie until not too many years ago: you set up daily life, introduce some characters who are more or less capable to detecting signs that something is up, and then walk the audience through how they severally react to disaster. There's often a Cassandra who sees doom before anyone else is ready to acknowledge it (that asteroid could hit us!), next to an ostrich who keeps his head in the sand rather than admit his valuable beach business is threatened by a shark. There's the engineer who warns that the building or bridge is vulnerable, the quirky scientist who thinks that volcano may blow, the Mom with two kids who has to decide whether it's time to drop everything and flee right this instant, the ne'er-do-well who discovers reserves of resourcefulness or social responsibility in the clinch.
Now it's more common to start with the big explosion and escalate from there.
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