David Macaulay

What appear to be four separate stories, one installment of each appearing on each spread of the book, turn out to intermingle and, in time, become one story. Always Macaulay is playing with our perceptions and making allusions and illusions. A robber hides out in a herd of cattle who, in turn, disrupt the passage of a train. At the train station, passengers at first are absorbed in the newspapers they are reading, but as the wait lengthens, they start playing with the newspapers and with each other. A boy, a passenger on the train, witnesses some of the events, but not all of them. Parents, previously staid and distant, have apparently changed, at least temporarily, because of their time spent waiting for the train that day. The book can be frustratingly confusing or, in the proper hands and minds, a challenge and a source of fascination.

Black and White

Dori Hillestad Butler

Nancy Meyers

Introducing King &amp;amp;amp; Kayla!This fun, laugh-out-loud early chapter book series follows lovable dog King and his human girl Kayla as they solve mysteries. From the Geisel Honor Award-winning team of Dori Hillestad Butler and Nancy Meyers.”A perfect option for newly independent readers ready to start transitioning from easy readers to beginning chapter books. Transitional readers are always in demand, and this series is a worthy contribution to any collection serving brand-new readers.” ―School Library JournalKing and Kayla find a mysterious letter written in code with Kayla’s name on it. Kayla’s friend, Mason, received an almost identical letter. Can the two friends put their detective skills together to crack the code? King learns a big clue, but can he lead his human friends to it and help them break the secret code?With simple, straightforward language and great verbal and visual humor, the King &amp;amp;amp; Kayla series from Geisel Honor Award-winning team Dori Hillestad Butler and Nancy Meyers is perfect for newly independent readers. Great for introducing mysteries and the important concepts of fact gathering, list making, clues, and analytical thinking.Series Activity Kit available!Awards:  CCBC Choices (Books for Beginning Readers) / Cooperative Children’s Book CenterBest Children’s Books of the Year / Bank Street College of Education

King & Kayla and the Case of the Secret Code

The mystery deepens and the action intensifies for 12-year-old Cruz Coronado and friends in the exciting third book in the Explorer Academy series. The adventure continues for Cruz, Emmett, Sailor, and Bryndis as they continue their studies at sea and travel to exotic locations around the world. A mysterious person alerts Cruz to impending danger while he and a few trusted pals explore ancient ruins in Petra, Jordan, and search for another piece of the puzzle his mother left behind. Worst of all, now his father has gone missing, which prompts Aunt Marisol, his number one protector, to leave the ship in search of him. Who is the new professor who takes her place? How does the new technology he introduces help or hurt Cruz’s quest? Why is Nebula determined to stop Cruz before he turns 13? The clock is ticking as his first teen birthday draws near … a milestone that will change his life forever, one way or another.

Explorer Academy: The Double Helix (Book 3)

Cody, Queen, Luke, and M.E. are the Code Busters–clever clue hunters with a passion for puzzles. They can’t wait for their school trip to Washington, D.C., where they’ll get to visit the International Spy Museum. But it seems as if someone is spying on them–or at least leaving coded messages that even the Code Busters can’t crack. And once they arrive at the museum, they notice they’re being followed by a mysterious stranger. Then a classmate goes missing. Could the unknown spy be responsible? It’s up to the Code Busters to find out!   Can you crack the code? Test your brain with the Code Busters to see if you have the right stuff to be an ace detective. Answers are in the back, if you ever get stuck.

Hunt for the Missing Spy

Gene Luen Yang

Mike Holmes

From graphic novel superstar (and former computer programming teacher) and New York Times bestselling author Gene Luen Yang, Secret Coders: Monsters &amp;amp;amp; Modules is the sixth and final volume in a wildly entertaining series that combines logic puzzles and basic coding instruction with a page-turning mystery plot! The Coders always knew their programming skills would take them far, but they never guessed they would take them to another dimension! Or to be accurate, one dimension less–to save humanity, Hopper, Eni, and Josh must travel to Flatland, a dangerous two-dimensional world ruled by polygons. If they can return home safely with a turtle of light, they might just stand a chance in their final showdown with Dr. One-Zero!

Monsters & Modules

Dr. One-Zero has added a new class to Stately Academy’s curriculum. But in Advanced Chemistry, they only teach one lesson: how to make Green Pop! While their classmates are manufacturing this dangerous soda, the Coders uncover a clue that may lead them to Hopper’s missing dad. Is it time to use Professor Bee’s most powerful weapon: the Turtle of Light? From graphic novel superstar (and former computer-programming teacher) Gene Luen Yang, comes Robots &amp;amp;amp; Repeats, the fourth volume of Secret Coders. This wildly entertaining series combines logic puzzles and basic coding instruction with a page-turning mystery plot!

Robots & Repeats

The third book in the Secret Coders series from Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes. Stately Academy is no ordinary school: it was once home to an elite institute where teachers, students, and robots worked together to unravel the mysteries of coding. Hopper, Eni, and Josh won’t rest until they’ve learned the whole story, but they aren’t the only ones interested in the school’s past. Principal Dean is hot on their trail, demanding that the coders turn over their most powerful robot. Dean may be a creep, but he’s nothing compared to the guy who’s really in charge: a green-skinned coding genius named Professor One-Zero.

Secrets & Sequences

Gene Luen Yang is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and is a MacArthur Fellow, a recipient of what’s popularly known as the MacArthur Genius Grant. There’s something lurking beneath the surface of Stately Academy–literally. In a secret underground classroom Hopper, Eni, and Josh discover that the campus was once home to the Bee School, an institute where teachers, students, and robots worked together to unravel the mysteries of coding. Hopper and her friends are eager to follow in this tradition and become top-rate coders. But why are Principal Dean and the rugby team suddenly so interested in their extracurricular activities? From graphic novel superstar (and high school computer programming teacher) Gene Luen Yang comes the second volume of Secret Coders, Paths &amp;amp;amp; Portals, a wildly entertaining new series that combines logic puzzles and basic programming instruction with a page-turning mystery plot! This title has Common Core connections.

Paths & Portals

From graphic novel superstar (and former computer programming teacher) and New York Times bestselling author Gene Luen Yang, Secret Coders: Potions &amp;amp;amp; Parameters is the fifth volume in a wildly entertaining series that combines logic puzzles and basic coding instruction with a page-turning mystery plot! Dr. One-Zero won’t stop until the whole town–no, the whole world–embraces the true happiness” found in his poisonous potion, Green Pop. And now that he has the Turtle of Light, he’s virtually unstoppable. There’s one weapon that can defeat him: another Turtle of Light. Unfortunately, they can only be found in another dimension! To open a portal to this new world, Hopper, Eni, and Josh’s coding skills will be put to the test.

Potions & Parameters

Gene Luen Yang is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and is a MacArthur Fellow, a recipient of what’s popularly known as the MacArthur Genius Grant. Welcome to Stately Academy, a school which is just crawling with mysteries to be solved! The founder of the school left many clues and puzzles to challenge his enterprising students. Using their wits and their growing prowess with coding, Hopper and her friend Eni are going to solve the mystery of Stately Academy no matter what it takes! From graphic novel superstar (and high school computer programming teacher) Gene Luen Yang comes a wildly entertaining new series that combines logic puzzles and basic programming instruction with a page-turning mystery plot! This title has Common Core connections.

Secret Coders

Cruz, Sailor, Emmett, and the gang are on their way to Africa when Nebula misses their intended target and someone close to Cruz ends up on the brink of death. Secrets creep out from the shadows and leave Cruz with more questions than answers in this fourth title in the hit series. A major discovery forces the Explorer Academy into the limelight in The Star Dunes, but Cruz has much more on his mind than 15 minutes of fame. A new face on board the ship brings Cruz’s worlds colliding, just as a major close call tears them apart. En route to Africa, Team Cousteau is now down a major player, and Cruz can’t help but be preoccupied by the hole in his life. The discovery of his mom’s next clue leads him to the most exotic location yet–a vast desert–with no other information to lead the way, while an unlikely ally helps Cruz pursue another piece of the puzzle. Just as things seem like they might turn out alright, Dr. Fanchon Quills has a technological breakthrough which gives Cruz a glimpse into the past and reveals more about his future than he may really want to know.

Explorer Academy: The Star Dunes (Book 4)

Gilbert Ford

Melissa is a nobody. Wilf is a slacker. Bondi is a show-off. At least that’s what their middle school teachers think. To everyone’s surprise, they are the three students chosen to compete for a ten thousand-dollar scholarship, solving clues that lead them to various locations around Chicago. At first the three contestants work independently, but it doesn’t take long before each begins to wonder whether the competition is a sham. It’s only by secretly joining forces and using their unique talents that the trio is able to uncover the truth behind the Ambrose Deception – a truth that involves a lot more than just a scholarship.  With a narrative style as varied and intriguing as the mystery itself, this adventure involving clever clues, plenty of perks, and abhorrent adults is pure wish fulfillment.

Ambrose Deception

Deborah Hopkinson

From the award-winning author of The Great Trouble comes a story of espionage, survival, and friendship during World War II. Bertie Bradshaw never set out to become a spy. He never imagined traipsing around war-torn London, solving ciphers, practicing surveillance, and searching for a traitor to the Allied forces. He certainly never expected that a strong-willed American girl named Eleanor would play Watson to his Holmes (or Holmes to his Watson, depending on who you ask). But when a young woman goes missing, leaving behind a coded notebook, Bertie is determined to solve the mystery. With the help of Eleanor and his friend David, a Jewish refugee–and, of course, his trusty pup, Little Roo–Bertie must decipher the notebook in time to stop a double agent from spilling the biggest secret of all to the Nazis. From the author of The Great Trouble, this suspenseful WWII adventure reminds us that times of war call for bravery, brains and teamwork from even the most unlikely heroes.

How I Became a Spy: A Mystery of WWII London

Weng Wai Chan

It’s Singapore in 1940, war is just around the corner–but 12-year-old Lizard doesn’t know that. He lives in Chinatown above a tailor’s shop, surviving on his wits and hustling for odd jobs. When he steals a small teak box containing a Japanese code book from a Raffles Hotel suite, he finds himself in a dangerous world of wartime espionage. Lizard doesn’t know who to trust. How is the mysterious book inside the box connected to his friend Lili, a girl full of secrets and fighting skills? Can he trust her, or will she betray him in the end?

Lizard's Tale

Something monstrous has been found in the magic world of Wonderland and it wants to get out.   Lewis Carroll created a curious and fantastical world in his classic book Alice in Wonderland, but he secretly recorded the true story of his actual travels to Wonderland in four journals which have been lost to the world…until now.  Celia and Tyrus discover the legendary Lost Diaries of Wonderland and fall into a portal that pulls them into the same fantasy world as the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter. However, Wonderland has vastly changed. A darkness has settled over the land, and some creatures and characters that Tyrus remembers from the book have been transformed into angry monsters.  Celia and Tyrus make their way through this unpredictable and dangerous land, helped by familiar friends including the Cheshire Cat and a new character, Sylvan, a young rabbit. Together, they desperately work to solve puzzles and riddles, looking for a way out of Wonderland. But the danger increases when the Queen of Hearts begins hunting them. Believing the two young visitors hold the key to opening multiple portals to multiple worlds, she will stop at nothing to capture them.  It’s up to Celia and Tyrus to save Wonderland and the real world. It’s a race against time before they are trapped in Wonderland forever.

The Lost Wonderland Diaries

Jonathan W. Stokes

The Goonies meets Indiana Jones and James Patterson’s Treasure Hunters in this funny, action-filled adventure series! Twelve-year-old Addison Cooke just wishes something exciting would happen to him. His aunt and uncle, both world-famous researchers, travel to the ends of the earth searching for hidden treasure, dodging dangerous robbers along the way, while Addison is stuck in school all day.  Luckily for Addison, adventure has a way of finding the Cookes. After his uncle unearths the first ancient Incan clue needed to find a vast trove of lost treasure, he is kidnapped by members of a shadowy organization intent on stealing the riches. Addison’s uncle is the bandits’ key to deciphering the ancient clues and looting the treasure . . . unless Addison and his friends can outsmart the kidnappers and crack the code first. So it’s off to South America, where the excitement, danger, gold, booby traps, and car chases are never-ending!  Full of laugh-out-loud moments and nonstop action, and perfect for fans of Indiana Jones or James Patterson’s Treasure Hunters series, Addison Cooke and the Treasure of the Incas is sure to strike gold with kid readers. Praise for Addison Cooke and the Treasure of the Incas “Combines the derring-do of Indiana Jones with a genuine archaeological mystery. Stokes brings a cinematic scope to the story. This lively debut promises more seat-of-the-pants thrills for readers who love adventure.”–Booklist “Cinematic pacing and action drive the story, but it’s Addison and his friends who will keep readers engaged. Humor is never in short supply . . . and Addison’s endless optimism and irrepressible confidence in his own abilities are endearing. A solid start to a new series, with a conclusion that will leave readers hoping Addison and company return soon for another adventure.”–School Library Journal “Addison is often one step ahead of the adults, but his lead is constantly threatened, building steady tension throughout the novel, screenwriter Stokes’s debut.”–Publishers Weekly “What to give the kid who’s read all the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books? Try Addison Cooke…this fast-paced adventure will enthrall middle-grade readers and leave them wanting more.”–Parents

Addison Cooke and the Treasure of the Incas

Ridley Pearson

Disneyland, Opening Day, 1955. When five present-day teenagers known as the Kingdom Keepers find themselves thrown into a past that would make anyone envious, things don’t exactly work out the way they’d hoped. Finn, Charlene, Maybeck, Willa, and Philby open a door into a place and a time when the legend of the Disney parks is just starting. They are there, in 1955, to retrieve Walt Disney’s infamous pen that once saved the parks as we know them. But like all things Disney, nothing is as it seems.The early days of the Tower of Terror, the origin of the Overtakers (Disney villains), and the real power of magic unfold in an unexpected series of events that propel both the Keepers and Disney itself into a darkness no one saw coming. Along the way, the Keepers visit Walt Disney’s hilltop home, Disneyland’s opening day and reception, and find themselves separated from friends sixty years away. The three Fairlies, young women in Disney’s School of Imagineering, girls with astonishing powers of their own, have unmasked a long-buried secret that threatens the lives of their friends as well as everything Walt Disney worked for.

Legacy of Secrets

An infamous prison may hold a secret only the Code Busters can uncover.  Cody, Quinn, Luke, and M.E. may all have different talents, but they share one thing in common: they love playing around with codes. In fact, they love codes so much, they have their own club, with a secret hideout and passwords that change every day. When Cody and her friends get a mysterious e-mail hinting at a treasure on Alcatraz Island, they can’t wait to get started on their clue hunt. Luckily, a class trip to the prison is the perfect cover to start their search. During the tour, the club members learn that a jewel thief kept at Alcatraz may have hidden his biggest haul on the island and left a series of coded messages to find it. And solving puzzles is what the Code Busters do best! This interactive mystery features more than fifteen codes and puzzles for you to decipher along with the Code Busters, including Morse code, the tap code, LEET, and zigzag code. Answers are in the back, if you ever get stuck.

The Haunted Lighthouse

Egyptian secrets take center stage in this interactive mystery where boys and girls can solve codes and puzzles right along with the multicultural cast of characters. Cody, Quinn, Luke, and M.E. love playing around with codes. In fact, they love codes so much they have their own club, with a secret hideout and passwords that change every day. After learning about steganography, the study of concealed writing, the Code Busters discover that artists have been hiding secret messages in their artwork for centuries. A clue hunt on a class trip to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum leads the Code Busters to an artifact that doesn’t seem to quite fit with the rest of the collection. Could it be a forgery? The Code Busters’ code-cracking skills and new knowledge of hieroglyphic messages will help them get to the bottom of this mystery, but they better think fast before the criminal tries to frame them!

The Mummy's Curse

The Code Busters are excited for their class field trip to Angel Island, known as the Ellis Island of the West. One of Mika’s ancestors passed through the island’s immigration station in the early twentieth century, and Mika thinks he may have left behind some secret messages . . . plus a very special box. But as the Code Busters search for hints from the past, they get caught up in an even bigger secret.  Can you crack the code? Test your brain with the Code Busters to see if you have the right stuff to be an ace detective. Answers are in the back, in case you get stuck.

The Secret of the Puzzle Box

Gordon Korman

The highly-anticipated Book 2 of the #1 bestselling The 39 Clues series.THIS JUST IN! Amy and Dan Cahill were spotted on a train, hot on the trail of one of 39 Clues hidden around the world. BUT WAIT! Police report a break-in at an elite hotel, and the suspects ALSO sound suspiciously like Amy and Dan. UPDATE! Amy and Dan have been seen in a car . . . no, in a speedboat chase . . . and HOLD EVERYTHING! They’re being chased by an angry mob?!? When there’s a Clue on the line, anything can happen.

The 39 Clues: One False Note

Tracy Nelson Maurer

El Primo Ramón

Back in the 1800s, information traveled slowly. Who would dream of instant messages? Samuel Morse, that’s who! Who traveled to France, where the famous telegraph towers relayed 10,000 possible codes for messages depending on the signal arm positions—only if the weather was clear? Who imagined a system that would use electric pulses to instantly carry coded messages between two machines, rain or shine? Long before the first telephone, who changed communication forever? Samuel Morse, that’s who!

This dynamic and subtsantive biography celebrates an early technology pioneer. Perfect for fans of Gene Barretta’s popular inventor series.

Samuel Morse, That's Who!

Bobbie Peers

Also published in English as: William Wenton and the luridium thief.

William Wenton and the Impossible Puzzle

Rick Riordan

Minutes before she died Grace Cahill changed her will, leaving her decendants an impossible decision: “You have a choice - one million dollars or a clue.”Grace is the last matriarch of the Cahills, the world’s most powerful family. Everyone from Napoleon to Houdini is related to the Cahills, yet the source of the family power is lost. 39 clues hidden around the world will reveal the family’s secret, but no one has been able to assemble them. Now the clues race is on, and young Amy and Dan must decide what’s important: hunting clues or uncovering what REALLY happened to their parents.The 39 Clues is Scholastic’s groundbreaking new series, spanning 10 adrenaline-charged books, 350 trading cards, and an online game where readers play a part in the story and compete for over $100,000 in prizes.The 39 Clues books set the story, and the cards, website and game allow kids to participate in it. Kids visit the website - www.the39clues.com - and discover they are lost members of the Cahill family. They set up online accounts where they can compete against other kids and against Cahill characters to find all 39 clues. Through the website, kids can track their points and clues, manage their card collections, dig through the Cahill archives for secrets, and “travel” the world to collect Cahill artifacts, interview characters, and hunt down clues. Collecting cards helps: Each card is a piece of evidence containing information on a Cahill, a clue, or a family secret.Every kid is a winner - we’ll give away prizes through the books, the website and the cards, including a grand prize of $10,000!

The 39 Clues

William Wenton is a code-breaking genius, but now he faces a new threat—one that’s lurking inside him—in the second book in the William Wenton series that School Library Journal calls “part Alex Rider, part Da Vinci Code for kids, and part Artemis Fowl.”

William Wenton and the Secret Portal

Elizabeth Eulberg

Acclaimed author Elizabeth Eulberg continues her hilarious middle-grade twist on Sherlock Holmes as detective duo Shelby and Watson tackle their trickiest case yet–going undercover . . . as figure skaters! Being friends with a super sleuth isn’t easy, especially when she’s nine years old, four feet tall, and full of attitude. But for eleven-year-old John Watson, being friends with Shelby Holmes is just the adventure he’s looking for. After Watson’s online journal chronicling his and Shelby’s case-closing abilities attracts the attention of a newspaper reporter, the pair becomes a small “media sensation” in their Harlem neighborhood. So it’s no surprise (at least, to Shelby!) when the article lands them a new client–a figure skating coach whose star athlete, Jordan Nelson, is receiving strange, threatening messages, written entirely in code. There’s no one better to crack the cipher than dynamic duo Shelby and Watson! But to gather information, Shelby decides that they’ll have to go undercover . . . as an award-winning pair skating team. Can they use the laws of physics and their acting skills to maintain their covers and figure out who’s sending Jordan such strange messages before it’s too late?

The Great Shelby Holmes and the Coldest Case

Laura Ruby

National Book Award finalist Laura Ruby returns with the middle chapter in her epic alternate-history adventure—a journey that will test Tess, Theo, and Jaime and change their lives forever. It was only a few weeks ago that the Biedermann twins, Tess and Theo, along with their friend Jaime Cruz, followed the secrets of the Morningstarrs’ cipher further than anyone had in its century-and a-half history—and destroyed their beloved home in the process. But the Old York Cipher still isn’t solved. The demolition of 354 W. 73rd Street only revealed the next clue in the greatest mystery of the modern world, and if Tess, Theo, and Jaime want to discover what lies at the end of the puzzle laid into the buildings of New York by its brilliant, enigmatic architects, they will need to press on. But doing so could prove even more dangerous than they know. It is clear that the Morningstarr twins marshaled all the strange technology they had spent their lives creating in the construction of the Cipher, and that technology has its own plans for those who pursue it. It’s also clear that Tess, Theo, and Jaime are not the only ones on the trail of the treasure. As enemies both known and unknown close in on them from all sides and the very foundations of the city seem to crumble around them, they will have to ask themselves how far they will go to change the unchangeable—and whether the price of knowing the secrets of the Morningstarrs is one they are willing to pay.

York: The Clockwork Ghost

Debbie Dadey

Tatevik Avakyan

Kiki and her friends get caught up in a code war to try and meet a narwhal in this sparkling Mermaid Tales adventure. All the merkids are super-excited! Two famous narwhal scientists are visiting Trident City with their daughter, Nadine. Best of all, someone is going to get to show Nadine around the city while her parents are in meetings! But who? All the merkids want to be the one, so how are they going to decide who gets to do it? Mrs. Karp, their teacher, decides to organize a code-breaking contest, but with the competition getting fierce, it is more like a code war! Even Kiki, Echo, and Shelly are fighting! Is there a way that everyone can win?

The Narwhal Problem

Frances O’Roark Dowell

Amy June Bates

Sam Graham wants a cell phone to help him with his research, but when his parents say no, he has to come up with another way to keep all the info he needs in his pocket in this hilarious fifth chapter book in the Sam the Man series from Frances O’Roark Dowell. Here are the facts: Sam Graham is an information man. But to get information, you need to do research. You never know when you’ll need an urgent piece of info—like, say, the number for a chicken emergency hotline—so a resource for instant research is a must! This is why Sam needs a cell phone. Unfortunately, Mom and Dad disagree. So, Sam has to come up with a plan. But what is small enough to fit in your pocket and can hold all the information you need? Sam will have to go old-school with his latest plan and use a handy notebook instead. Luckily, retro is in, and a la Nick in Andrew Clements’s Frindle, Sam might just start the latest trend!

Sam the Man & the Cell Phone Plan

Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Could books hidden through Book Scavenger be linked to an arsonist’s web of destruction? Find out in Book 2 of Jennifer Bertman’s Book Scavenger series. Mr. Quisling is definitely up to something mysterious, and Emily and James are on high alert. First, there’s the coded note he drops at a book event. Then they uncover a trail of encrypted messages in Mark Twain-penned books hidden through Book Scavenger. What’s most suspicious is that each hidden book triggers a fire. As the sleuthing friends dig deeper, they discover Mr. Quisling has been hunting a legendary historical puzzle: the Unbreakable Code. This new mystery is irresistible, but Emily and James can’t ignore the signs that Mr. Quisling might be the arsonist. The clock is ticking as the fires multiply, and Emily and James race to crack the code of a lifetime. A Christy Ottaviano Book

The Unbreakable Code

Krista Van Dolzer

Twelve-year-old painter Esther can’t wait to attend Camp Vermeer, the most prestigious art camp around. But when her stepdad accidentally drives up the wrong mountain, she lands at Camp Archimedes – a math camp! Determined to prove herself to the other campers, she tackles a brain-teaser that’s supposed to be impossible, and solves it in a single day. But not everyone is happy about it… someone wants her out of camp at any cost, and starts leaving cryptic, threatening notes all over the grounds. Esther doesn’t know who to trust. Will she solve this riddle before it’s too late?

Featuring tricky logic puzzles readers can solve along with the characters and starring a unique, smart, and crafty young heroine, this story has just the right mix of mystery, humor, wit, and heart.

The Multiplying Mysteries of Mount Ten

Could books hidden through the Book Scavenger game be linked to an arsonist’s web of destruction? Find out in the New York Times-bestselling second book in the action packed Book Scavenger series by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman.

The Unbreakable Code (The Book Scavenger series)

Michael Oechsle

Lucas’s father has recently died in Afghanistan, and to help him cope, his grandmother sends him to Camp Kawani, a camp for kids who have lost a parent. While there, he hears about the local legend of Thomas Jefferson Beale. Beale supposedly hid a hoard of gold in the mountains 200 years before. The location is encrypted in a set of codes no one has ever been able to decipher. When Lucas and his newfound friends decide to track down the treasure, they embark on a mission that could be too dangerous to survive.

The Lost Cipher

Sarah Watts

Sleuthing duo Emily and James engage in a literary escape-room challenge on Alcatraz Island, but soon find that an invisible enemy is trying to sabotage the team at any cost.

The Alcatraz Escape

Ben Guterson

Chloe Bristol

Back at the Winterhouse hotel for another holiday season, Elizabeth and Freddy dig deeper into the mystery surrounding Riley S. Granger, a hotel guest who left behind odd artifacts―one being a magical book that the evil Gracella Winters once attempted to use to gain destructive power over the entire Falls lineage. The two friends follow a trail of clues, inadvertently attracting the attention of a suspicious new hotel guest: Elana Vesper. The clock is ticking as Elizabeth and Freddy struggle to figure out whether Elana is merely a pawn or a player in the plot to revive the spirit of Gracella. If that wasn’t enough, Elizabeth suspects she is coming into her own special powers―and she’s fearful it might lead her right into Gracella’s vicious web. Mystery, adventure, and a winning friendship combine in this much anticipated sequel.

The Secrets of Winterhouse

Elizabeth, eleven, spends Christmas break at Winterhouse hotel under strange circumstances, where she discovers that she has magic, and her love of puzzles helps her solve a mystery.

Winterhouse

Blake Hoena

During World War II U.S. forces had to keep battle plans and other top secret information out of the enemy’s hands. Coded messages were often used, but secret codes could be broken. To solve this problem, the U.S. military turned to an unexpected source to create an unbreakable code. The Navajo people spoke a complex language that few outsiders knew how to speak. Several Navajo soldiers were recruited to develop a code based on the Navajo language. The result was a complex code that could not be solved by the enemy. Learn all about the brave Navajo Code Talkers and how their unbreakable code helped defeat the enemy and win the war.

Navajo Code Talkers

Joseph Bruchac

Liz Amini-Holmes

As a young Navajo boy, Chester Nez had to leave the reservation and attend boarding school, where he was taught that his native language and culture were useless. But Chester refused to give up his heritage. Years later, during World War II, Chester—and other Navajo men like him—was recruited by the US Marines to use the Navajo language to create an unbreakable military code. Suddenly the language he had been told to forget was needed to fight a war. This powerful picture book biography contains backmatter including a timeline and a portion of the Navajo code, and also depicts the life of an original Navajo code talker while capturing the importance of heritage.

Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code

Marina Cohen

Twelve-year-old Kallie despises nonsense. She believes there’s a rational explanation for everything, despite the good-natured prodding of her Grandpa Jess, who takes her to frivolous wastes of time like their town’s local Festival of Fools. There, Kallie meets a faceless man (must be some kind of mask) who gives her a strange wooden puzzle box (must be some kind of gimmick). Intrigued despite herself, Kallie sets to work on unlocking its secrets and…lets something out. From here Kallie’s life begins to entangle with another world, a world where Liah, a young bone carver, journeys with her master to sell wares to a wicked Queen. The sights, sounds, smells, and spells of Liah’s world are beginning to leak into Kallie’s, and if Kallie can’t decipher the meaning of her own story, “the end” might be far from happy.

A Box of Bones

Mac Barnett

Mike Lowery

Mac B. and his arch-nemesis are facing off at the Video Game World Championships! But first, Mac B. needs to crack an unbreakable secret code… can he solve it in time to defeat his enemy? Find out in this kid spy adventure from New York Times bestselling author, Mac Barnett!The Queen of England calls on Mac B. once again! This time, Mac must crack a secret code that has been recovered from a double agent. A series of clues leads Mac to France, and then to Japan, where he comes face-to-face with his arch-nemesis, the KGB man… and the world headquarters of Nintendo! Is the KGB Man secretly behind all of this? And are Mac’s video game skills good enough to facedown his enemy at the Video Game World Championships?With Mike Lowery’s signature illustrations on every page, historical facts woven throughout, and of course intrigue, history, hilarity and more, catch the latest in this totally smart, wholly original, side-splittingly funny series from the wildly talented author Mac Barnett.

Mac Cracks the Code

Carolyn Keene

Lovely young Carla Ponce, who lives in Peru, invites Nancy and her friends Bess and George to visit her and solve her “monkey mystery,” which promises to lead to a fabulous treasure. A clue is carved on an intriguing wooden plaque that is so old, most of the crossword cipher is obliterated. When a notorious gang headed by El Gato (the Cat) steals the priceless relic, Nancy’s hopes of solving the mystery are almost shattered. But the daring young detective’s ability to think fast and act quickly results in the recovery of the plaque.

Nancy’s determined efforts to decode the crossword decipher take her to the magnificent, awe-inspiring Incan ruins at Cuzco and Machu Pichu. Through clever deductions, perseverance, and dangerous adventures, Nancy and her friends help to capture a ring of vicious smugglers and go on to make an astounding archaeological discovery.

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Codes, Ciphers And Puzzles