As my son creeps around our house using the Spy Kit he received for his birthday last week, I thought the timing was more than appropriate to review the book Top Secret: Shady Tales of Spies and Spying. What is it about kids – boys especially it seems- and spies? The allure of sneaking around, listening in on your parents conversations and generally making your sister mad seem to be the top three reasons my son is quite into spies right now.
He has spent hours immersed in this book and while I don’t think I have the next James Bond on my hands -yet- we have shared a few moments of glee reading this book. I had no idea that once upon a time Julia Child worked for the Office of Strategic Services keeping track of operatives. Really? Where was this in the movie Julie and Julia, did I sleep through that part? She also “cooked up” a shark repellent to prevent sharks from bumping into underwater missiles. How cool is that!?
If you have a sneaky little sleuth hanging around the house as I seem to do lately, this is the book for them! At least it will get them away from the walls with their listening devices (I kid you not) and reading a book.
Age: 10 – 16 years
Pages: 192 pages
Publisher: DK Publishing
Publisher’s Description:
Check over your shoulder before you peek inside the pages of this book—it shares the secrets of some of the sneakiest spies around.
Covering tools, techniques, gadgets, gizmos, history, and famous agents, alongside types of spying and the roles involved, Top Secret explores the devices and strategies used by spies from dead drops with hidden documents inside, to the most sophisticated machines straight out of sci-fi movies. Follow the footsteps of famous spies through the ages to reveal their inventive and amusing gadgets, including night vision goggles and bugging devices hidden in plants and cocktail olives…then discuss the best disguises, secret identities, and aids on offer to crafty secret agents.
Lively and varied designs take readers through all of the areas of spying from national and international agencies such as the FBI and MI5, to business spies, internet spying, and personal spying devices used for data gathering. Sections on history as well as gadgets and technology, interspersed with fun tips for would-be secret agents to practice on their friends, make it no secret why this book is a winner.
For more information on this book and others, you can visit DK Books at http://www.dk.com, and click the flag to choose your country.