Code Breaker, Spy Hunter: How Elizebeth Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars

Cryptanalysis at first sounds like a scary job, but really, once you learn the meaning, it is not scary at all. Once I found out what a cryptanalyst was, I knew it sounded like a very fun and interesting job! I love to solve mysteries, so learning about the work of Elizabeth Friedman was enjoyable. Who knew someone had the job of decoding messages from others all across the world? It is hard to imagine a time when the world was in such turmoil and people sent secret messages during war to spy on others or plan attacks.

This book shows how important the work of Elizabeth and William Friedman and their helper was. Their perseverance and ability to break codes saved the lives of many and alerted many to planned attacks. I love the detailed illustrations, which show how important her work was to the history of the United States during the world wars. The back of the book includes codes and ciphers for readers to learn about, in addition to a challenge for readers to decode their own puzzle. There is also a timeline and bibliography of Elizabeth Friedman.