Last month I read The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life by Amy Butler Greenfield. This gripping account of the life of code-breaking couple William and Elizebeth Friedman was something about WWI and WWII that I knew so little about. Their story is amazing (and sad) and I highly recommend that book written for adults. 

Ever since reading Hidden Figures, I have been very curious about women of the 20th and 21st centuries who made contributions to math and science. I find their lives to be fascinating (even if not something I would wish to emulate) and I have come to appreciate Laurie Wallmark’s excellent picture book biographies. This one, Code Breaker, Spy Hunter: How Elizebeth Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars is my favorite so far. 

The Friedman story is absolutely compelling and worthy of our attention. They lived storied lives, did incredible things, and genuinely changed the course of two world wars. 

I am so glad that I read this book after having read the adult book by Greenfield. Because I had lived in the Friedman story for so many hours in that excellent account, I was genuinely impressed by Wallmark’s treatment of Elizebeth. Wallmark managed to capture the most stunning aspects of Elizebeth’s life and her contributions to American safety without overwhelming the young reader. And she did it with very lively and engaging storytelling. Wallmark is one of the authors who is proving that picture book biographies are, oftentimes, the very best way into a subject. 

Also of interest, throughout the picture book, the reader is given visual examples of codes and how to decode them. And, the last couple of pages are dedicated specifically to teaching kids how to “crack the code.” Readers who love puzzles will enjoy this aspect of the story immensely.

Readers looking for hard-to-find WWI picture books will be delighted to have this to add to their lists. I am thinking of using this in a Wonder Box for Women in History.