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Reviewed by: Kathy Jaccarino, High School Librarian Title: The Enigma Girls
Author: Candace Fleming
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2024 Good for Grades: 7-11 Genre/Type of Book: Narrative Non-Fiction
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: No
Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book: I have always been intrigued by the role of women as decoders at Bletchley Park during WWII. I dragged my husband there during our time in England. We loved it! This book spoke to me and my interest in this part of history.
If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be:
The Enigma Girls changed the world with every code they cracked.
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Review:
A narrative non-fiction book that spans the time during World War II, 1939-1945. Fleming does an excellent job following the paths of ten teenaged girls who end up working at the top-secret, code-breaking facility located outside of London, Bletchley Park. There have been several adult books, both fiction and non-fiction, that have explored the role of women and the work that was done breaking German codes during the war, this is a great option for young adult readers.
Through the lives of these ten women (young girls really) Fleming vividly describes the intense conditions and pressures the people at Bletchley Park faced and the important role they played in helping break ciphers, defeating the Germans and saving Allied lives during the war. The author illustrates the impact of their contributions and the conditions of life during this time. I was fascinated with the depiction of how dire it was that the vow of secrecy be adhered to, even after the war ended. The work at Bletchley Park, and these women, went largely unnoticed and unrecognized until 1977 when the government lifted this ban of silence. I appreciated how the author follows these women after the war to chronicle how their work impacted them and what their lives were like after the war. One of the ten women states that it was finally a relief to be able to truthfully answer the question, “What did you do during the war, Grandma?”
Throughout the book Fleming intersperses sections that explained about codes and ciphers. She also included sections on how to break/decipher simple codes. I found this fascinating, and I think students will be excited to try their hand at this!
The book is very well researched, an extensive bibliography and source notes are included. Also, the pictures are amazing and are integrated throughout the book. Since this was a TOP SECRET facility, I was surprised that there were photographs from that time, so this was even more impressive. Overall, a powerful and deserving homage to the women who did this incredibly important work during the war. This book could easily find a place in the US History curriculum and would be an important addition to the collection in support of the contributions of women in history.
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