Codebreaker Charlotte, by Cedar Wang is a fascinating educational historical picture book— and is lots of fun at the same time! Win-win-WIN!
Every year on her birthday, Charlotte looks forward to her gift from her Nana because it always involves solving a code. Kids will be intrigued, and enjoy going along for the puzzle-solving ride— after all, what kiddo (or grown-up) doesn’t love solving a code?
This delightful story cleverly appeals to young readers with the code breaking premise, while later in the book Nana explains to Charlotte that she was a codebreaker at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. Personally, I just learned about Bletchley Park when we were in England. What a fascinating bit of history and it’s especially empowering to learn that most of the codebreaking experts there were women.
Cedar Wang’s limited color palette cleverly denotes a nostalgic theme and setting. This book would be a terrific jumping off point for kids to learn more about the incredible codebreakers at Bletchley Park as well as having fun creating and solving codes of their own.
What a cool subject for a picture book! I recently read The Bletchley Riddle and Book Scavenger, so I’m all abuzz about code-breaking. The illustrations in this picture book look great, too. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Claire, for stopping by Picturebook Builders today and commenting. I hope you enjoy the book!
Not surprised most codebreakers were women. Love this book. Thanks so much sharing. I love the illustrations.
Thanks, Deb! It’s a wonderful book.
A fun, educational picture book! What’s not to love!
Thanks for sharing this, Jennifer. It looks so interesting, especially with its problem-solving, biographical, and historical combo, and such cool art.
Bletchley Park is amazing – and essential to the war effort. Alan Turing was there! what a great way to bring a new generation into this knowledge.
Oh, I like this! A code breaker picture book! Thanks, Jennifer!
This looks so interesting – what a great subject!
What fun! What kid doesn’t get excite about secret messages. Remember writing in lemon juice? And the illustrations are lovely.
All the Light We Cannot See meets The Imitation Game, but for kids! Cool topic and the color-texture combo evokes the historic context.
This looks like a great book! Thanks for pointing it out, Jennifer!