National Geographic KIDS and authors’ Crispin Boyer & Suzanne Zimbler hit the mark with this new title. I was fascinated throughout the 192 pages. The hardback is one of those hard to put down books you’ll be going back to again and again. Each of the 8 chapters covers a different aspect of everything Top Secret:

1. SECRET AGENCIES
2. SECRET HISTORY
3. SECRET IDENTITIES
4. SECRET PLANS
5. SECRET GADGETS
6. SECRET PLACES
7. SECRET CODES
8. SECRETS ALL AROUND YOU

Full of colorful images along with fascinating insights and reveals, there are also fun secret codes along the way where you learn how to unravel a cipher. It’s a message written using a different order of the alphabet. The book starts out with CRACK THE CODE, a little practice with six common ciphers. I won’t be doing my grocery list this way but kids will have a new way of communicating secrets to their friends.

I started to compile a list of my 5 favorite secrets but stopped after reaching well over 2 dozen. Instead of any spoilers, here’s just a few of the fun reads:

• America’s Fortress is a secret bunker located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I flashbacked 20 years ago when myself and a group of teachers were granted a tour. It was truly a special day. 350 people work there to keep our country safe and to track Santa Claus each December.
• Tucked behind Lincoln’s head at Mount Ruhsmore is a secret chamber.
• Skip over this section if you don’t want to know magician’s secrets. Many of them are explained. Now I know how that lady gets sawed in half.
• Tools of the Tradecraft include a variety of spy tools. How about the UMBRELLA DART GUN, an ingenius LETTER REMOVER, or the disgusting DOO-DOO TRANSMITTER? Yes, pictures and full details are provided.
• Full pages devoted to THE SECRET SAUCER, AREA 51, and INSIDE FORT KNOX had me smiling and wanting more.

There is so much to enjoy here for middle grade on up through adults. I’ll end this brief look with a secret code based on the ATBASH CIPHER summarizing my thoughts on TOP SECRET:

Z UFM, RNNVIHREV VCKVIRVMXY

I’m sure you are stumped so here’s the decoded version:

A FUN, IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE

****************************

(I received a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.)

Blogging about middle grade books or authors next week? Join the celebration.

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Make sure you put MMGM or Marvelous Middle Grade Monday in the subject line so it gets sorted accurately–and please don’t forget to say what book or author you’re featuring) You MUST email me your link by Sunday evening (11 PM Eastern Time) in order to be included in the list of links for the coming Monday.

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*Please note: these posts are not a reflection of my own opinions on the books featured. Each blogger is responsible for their own MMGM content and I do not pre-screen reviews ahead of time, nor do I control what books they choose. I simply assemble the list based on the links that are emailed to me.