This book offers captivating insights into the lives of real-life spies, shedding light on their clandestine activities and missions. I found this book to be a fascinating read for students interested in espionage and history.

Unable to open file due to IOS interface issues. Still awarding 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 for the idea (spies!), colorful cover and intriguing synopsis.

Pub Date 04 Aug 2020

Thanks to Quarto Publishing Group-Wide Eyed Editions and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

#TheSecretLifeofSpies #NetGalley

This book is so much fun. I am a crime novel buff and some of the names I knew from books I 've been reading, or movies.
But with this book I can now share my passion with some of the children I am working with.
And I can try to bring back the joy of reading, especially with the boys. They like non fiction book a lot better and this book is a blast.


Thanks for letting me read it.

Do you know a spy in the making?  Maybe a child between the ages of 7 and 10 who is looking for a fun read?  If so, I recommend this title that tells the stories of twenty real life spies.  They lived at different times and in different countries but all had intriguing lives and experiences.  Two of the many entries  in this title are on Alan Turing and Hedy Lamarr.  I enjoyed getting a child's eye view of their contributions and accomplishments. 

I recommend this title.  It will engage young readers.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Love this picture book about spies and espionage. 20 real life secret agents share their own stories about the danger, their sacrifices, missions for getting their jobs done. Covering spies and espionage across different continents and time periods, this is an extremely interesting book about the unique profession. The short introduction offers a great overview, the the glossary and random facts throughout the book provides great details about history, culture, stereotypes, and tidbits for being the secret agents. Maybe less being an educational read but definitely an entertaining and informational one.

We have a wide variety of subjects here,, from members of complex espionage organizations to what you might call incidental spies. Male and female, multiple races, and all throughout history. A few subjects are not true spies, though they contributed to the world of espionage through technology. With factual sidebars about the world of spycraft in general, it's pretty informative.

An different history of espionage, for the use of curious children, featuring 20 - mostly unique - stories of spies around the world. I was not personally impressed by the illustrations, otherwise the reading is really interesting and written in a simple yet comprehensive way. Besides the basic information about code names, sources and methods, it focuses on very interesting spies around the world, starting with the 15th century onwards, many of them brave women. It is also provided with a glossary, for those interested to get more depth into the topic. Really recommended for additional history reading, or just for some adventurous time-travel from the comfort of your couch.

I think what I actually liked about this book is the art style in many of the bios, but the writing style and the details were very lackluster, also their definition for the word "spy" was somewhat loose in some of the people they chose.

It's a colorful book with illustrations and short biography of a number of spies from different countries and times and how they worked and sometimes what they accomplished, accompanied with a glossary for a lot of spies terminology. I think I've watched a lot of spies shows and films to know almost all of the terminology, but this book wasn't the best. but it might intrigue some off the children who read, though I'm confused what age group children are the target audience.

"The Secret Life of Spies" presents illustrated snapshot biographies of men and women who served as spies internationally throughout history. The biographies are short enough to read in just a few minutes, while maintaining the interest of the reader. They are written in a way that supports the development of reading skills. Upper elementary and middle school readers should find this non-fiction book interesting and appealing, as it is based on "real" people who conduct a mysterious and intriguing business, filled with secrets and secret activities and inventions.

The book begins with several pages of introduction that explain the concept of espionage and the basis for these activities. Colorful drawings accompany each biography, showing the person at work. Side boxes with bullet points explain specific terms related to espionage. A glossary at the end of the book also defines the terms.

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

This book is a collection of short bios about different spies throughout history. I enjoyed the brief glimpses into different operations and loyalties, and learned a lot more than I expected. Even though I was familiar with several of these spies, there were many others that I had never heard of, and this book has a far more global focus than many other books about espionage. There is a good mix of male and female spies, which most collections would aspire to, but this also features a range of different races, ethnic backgrounds, and national interests.

The writing was somewhat dry, but I liked the method having the spies tell their stories in their own words. It made it more suspenseful, and made the endings more dramatic, when it was told in the style of a spy awaiting execution. In this sense, the dry writing made the frequent first-person, present-tense narrations more believable, because they weren't sensationalist, written in a quirky style, or in a voice that didn't fit with another country or culture. Also, in addition to the main text, there are informational sidebars that explain espionage-related concepts, and there is a glossary in the back.

Children who are interested in spies will enjoy this book, and teenagers and adults who find the topic appealing can enjoy this as well, because there is nothing childish about it. Some spy collections I have read talk down to children or soften the harsh realities of spying, but this book is direct, honest, and clear, providing an interesting glimpse into a variety of lives and operations, many of which are quite obscure. This is a really good book, and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to read this.

A look at spy craft, common terms and tactics used in spying, told through short bios of 20 real spies from all over the world and all throughout history.

This is a nice, quick intro to real spies, what real spy craft is like, and what the goals of spies are. It does a good job of presenting the facts versus the Hollywood version of spies, while doing so in a style that is engaging and very interesting. The book is fully illustrated and most of the text appears as little text boxes scattered across the page written as if the spy is telling their own story. While most of the book does focus on spies from the World Wars and the Cold War, there are spies from several centuries ago sprinkled in and from every continent except Antarctica. It also does a good job of presenting a pretty equal amount of male and female spies, and spies who break codes, to fly planes, to just work a seemingly boring job and pass on information. Recommended for kids who are reluctant to read nonfiction and spy enthusiasts.

Notes on content [based on the ARC]: No language issues. No sexual content (The bios are very cut and dry, basics, and kid friendly. Even Mata Hari’s bio is completely G rated with no hint of anything scandalous included.) Deaths of some spies are mentioned and the fact that they could be tortured for information is mentioned but again, it is very cut and dry factually stated with no details at all.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is great for children to learn about real-life spies and what they did. I think it is presented in an interesting way and illustrated wonderfully. Each spy has a lot of good information with dates and countries. There is a glossary to help with some of the harder words. I think it is a great way to expose children to a different type of history that might be more appealing than average content.

Spies are endlessly fascinating to both adults and children alike. The popular Spy School series comes to mind for elementary kids, as well as many movies featuring kid spies.

That's what makes this book such a disappointment. The biggest problem is that the writing is truly awful. As a children's librarian and former copywriter, I can say with confidence that this text would have been rejected by my editor immediately, AND it is way above grade level for its audience (7-10 year olds). Every paragraph has large words and clunky sentences that I found boring, dry, and challenging to read as an adult. It's a combination of bad writing..."Espionage is one of the oldest human activities ever to have existed...Although they try to keep their work hidden from everyday view, they have left their impact scattered throughout history."...and difficult vocabulary words: "This gives us a chance to look inside the mysterious world of spies and uncover some of the incredible techniques they use in their inscrutable work." The book also didn't use contractions, which makes the writing feel stilted and awkward. The first bolded sentence of page 4 also has a grammatical error ("spy" should be "spies"). The text feels like an early first draft, not even close to being publishable. I tried reading a few passages out loud, and kept getting tongue-tied.

Then we get to the stories of the spies themselves. I found the spies' storylines convoluted and hard to follow. Words like "handler" were introduced without any definition (or not until later in the book), but then other words like "pilgrim" are defined. I was also confused by the constantly changing perspective. Sometimes the spy narratives were in the first person, then they suddenly shifted to third person. Then sometimes the spy is talking to the reader (like in Sun Tzu's section). It's disorienting. Sometimes I get the sense the author is trying to give the spies a unique voice, but it quickly shifts back into dry narration, just in first person.

I wish that the spies were also listed in order chronologically. We keep jumping around different centuries and times in history, and it's difficult to follow. I also wish there had been a map included with each spy to highlight where they were born or operated. Seven- to ten-year-old children might not know the location of Russia offhand. They also might not know that UK stands for United Kingdom.

Now that I've mentioned all the problems with this book, there are two redeeming qualities: The illustrations are fun, and I do like the spy terminology sprinkled throughout (even though the blurbs are overly-long). I like that there's a glossary at the end of the book.

Overall, I don't think this book accomplishes what it sets out to do. It's marketed for 7-10 year-old children, but it's written at a college reading level, and somehow it manages to make the interesting topic of spies boring (an impressive feat!). The text of this book needs some serious chopping, streamlining, and simplifying. I think more diagrams of gear and equipment, maps of countries, and perhaps even photographs of the modern spies would enhance the book.

And one last beef--how could this book leave out Virginia Hall, one of the greatest female spies of World War II?!

TL;DR - I wouldn't purchase this book for my library or my child.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

The Secret Life Of Spies is a fascinating Non-Fiction book for older children. I had heard of several of the spies in this book from other books and movies, but there were many I knew nothing about. I especially enjoyed learning about Mary Bower/Mary Jane Richards of the Richmond Underground Network and the short life of Mata Hari, Spy and Exotic Dancer. I have always had an interest in MI5 and MI6 so really enjoyed the references to The British Intelligence Agencies. This is a great book for both children and adults. With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital copy.

As a huge fan of Le Carré, Rimington, Deaver and all really good novels about espionage, I was keen to read this book aimed at a younger audience to see what it would be like. I absolutely loved it.
This is written in the first-person, which gives it a sense that it's happening in the immediate present and that makes it really exciting. The book goes through several periods of history and spans many countries (albeit typically from the US/UK allied perspective).
As soon as I finished reading this, I looked at how I could purchase a copy for a friend's son who is currently really into U-boat history - it will be great when it's released for publication in May!
One small note: it would be great if the glossary had not only the CIA but also the abbreviations for MI5 and MI6 - those agencies are referenced throughout the text too so I felt it was only fair to also list them in the Glossary too.
Really great, enjoyable read and I loved learning new facts!
Many thanks for a copy of this ARC.