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  • Cracking the Code: The Human Quest to Uncover Secrets

Cracking the Code: The Human Quest to Uncover Secrets

Author
Rachel Kehoe
Illustrator
Meegan Lim
Publication Date
September 16, 2025
Genre / Grade Band
Non-fiction /  6th − 8th
Language
English
Cracking the Code: The Human Quest to Uncover Secrets
Description

Humans have been keeping secrets for generations and using cryptology to make sure those secrets don't fall into the wrong hands.

From the development of ancient Greek ciphers, to the creation of the Enigma and today's CRISPR technology, codes and codebreakers have changed the course of history. Today cryptology addresses cybersecurity and the ethics of hacking our own genetic code.

Cracking the Code reveals the history of codes, explores why humans keep secrets and introduces us to coding heroes like the Navajo Code Talkers from World War II. Codes have defined human history and will map our digital future. Will you be the next codebreaker to unlock the mysteries behind the codes that shape our world?

The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

Publication date
September 16, 2025
Genre
Non-fiction
Page Count
96
ISBN-13
9781459839595
Lexile Measure
1080
Publisher
Orca Book Publishers
Series
Orca Timeline
BISAC categories
JNF061010 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Technology | Inventions
JNF025000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | History | General
JNF068000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Spies & Spying

ALA/Booklist

Overall, this volume covers a wide range of fascinating subject matter, from the Caesar cipher to the creation of the National Security Agency to coding in Scratch, and includes significant diversity as it presents numerous women and people of color who have developed codes and served as code breakers.

Rachel Kehoe

Rachel Kehoe is an avid reader, traveler and photographer who has lived in Australia, Europe and Hong Kong. She has written for Muse, Faces and Science News for Students. Rachel lives in Burlington, Ontario.

Chelsea Charles is an illustrator who resides in Brampton, Ontario, and received her BAA in illustration from Sheridan College. She creates her illustrations through a combination of digital and traditional mediums.

The late Wanda Robson was a well-known storyteller, author, community activist and unceasing crusader in seeking justice for her older sister Viola Desmond, who was wrongly arrested in 1946 for sitting in the "white only" section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. In 2010 she published Sister to Courage: Stories from the World of Viola Desmond. Wanda was a longtime resident of North Sydney, Nova Scotia, where she lived with her husband, Joe, until she passed away in 2022.

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