Thank you to NetGalley and Scholastic for the E book. This book takes place in 1941 during WWII, Hundreds of women had the opportunity to work at Station X, out in the middle of no where and was a well-kept secret during the war. The book focuses ten women who had various jobs within the organization and describes what type of work they did, the secrecy (People didn't know what other departments did), and insight about each girl.
It was refreshing to have a book during this time period about young women, and the book will keep readers' interest with the photographs, captions, and code ciphering examples.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Scholastic for allowing me the chance to read a digital ARC of The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win WWII by Candace Fleming. This middle grade nonfiction book will be published March 5, 2024. All opinions are my own.

I love a true story and WWII is the one of my favorite historical topics. I really enjoyed that this brook shines the light on unsung heroes. The work these teenage girls, and hundreds more like them, did for was incredibly vital to the war effort yet it’s something most people don’t know about. I enjoyed learning about the work at Bletchley Park and what role each girl played. I also liked how Fleming built in lessons on ciphers and encrypting messages which makes the book more interactive. I think that middle school readers will really enjoy this book. In fact, I’d love to get a class set to use with my 7th graders.

#2024Reads #2024ReadingGoal #TheEnigmaGirls #CipherBreaking #CodeBreakers #CandaceFleming #StoriesInFocus #TrueStory #ScholasticPress #TeacherReader #ReadingInTheMiddleGrades #TeachingInTheMiddleGrades #MiddleGradeLit

I found this book very interesting, a slightly different perspective on the amazing work done at Bletchley Park. There has been a variety of media on individual geniuses and amazing machines who solved such pivotal puzzles during WWII. But this book makes clear the monumental volume of information that needed to be decoded, processed and analyzed, and the many young people, mostly women who did that work. I liked the use of different women's stories to make clear the different steps used to decode each bit of information. The sections giving practical information of how to solve codes and encryptions were less clear to me. This is likely my own failing at understanding such puzzles, but they were very confusing to me. The remainder of the book however, is well worth a read.

I love Candace Fleming's nonfiction books, and this is no exception! I was so excited to get my hands on an ARC of this book which sheds light on the young women (teens!) that helped with the war effort in England during the codebreaking mission to crack Nazi wartime messages. Candace Fleming has found the "heart" of this story in examining the women's contribution to the war effort outside the already well-known stories of Alan Turing and other male codebreakers. This is a great one to introduce to students who love reading about WWII. Awesome narrative nonfiction.

What an interesting read!!
An adventure into the past . I would recommend for young history buffs.

Grateful to NetGalley and Scholatic for the opportunity to read this advance copy.

I very much enjoyed reading this book and learning about these unsung heroes. I never knew the existence of the military program these young women worked for so it was fascinating to learn this new information. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the chance to read this book!

“The Enigma Girls” tells the story of several British young women who served during World War II helping to break codes. Some were recruited, others seemed to end up at Station X by accident. All were made to sign the Official Secrets Act in which they promised to never talk about their wartime jobs. These young women were gifted mathematicians or linguists. They largely came from middle and upper class families. They were dedicated to doing their part to beat the Nazis.

Candace Fleming does a fantastic job describing the dedication of these women and the conditions under which they worked (often horrible). I particularly appreciated that she included the women’s concerns about the ethical considerations of their jobs. There are introductory code-breaking activities and a thorough author’s note that describes why these women started sharing their experiences after decades of silence.

Classroom Considerations: “The Enigma Girls” is written at roughly a 5th/6th grade level. Because of the complexity of the story, it would be great for middle school students. The language is not overly simplistic so high school students would enjoy this book as well.

This book is great for kids who are interested in World War II or stories of strong women who have ignored society’s expectations.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and Scholastic Focus, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

What were your teenage years like? For these ten young women, their late teen years and early twenties were spent aiding England’s efforts to thwart their World War 2 enemies, but none of them could breathe a word about their work to anyone, ever. Decades later, the secrets about the code-breaking teams at Bletchley Park began to emerge, and with those stories came the realization of just how vital these young women were to winning the war, as well as many others like them. This is their story, chronicled by a talented and prolific author of compelling, true tales from history. An excellent addition to any middle grade, middle school or high school World War 2 book collection.

Thank you, Scholastic and NetGalley, for the ARC.

From award-winning author Candace Fleming, comes the powerful and fascinating story of the brave and dedicated young women who helped turn the tides of World War II for the Allies, with their hard work and determination at Bletchley Park.

Very well-written and informative!

The Enigma Girls by Candace Fleming, covers WWII from the perspective of 10 girls/teens who were enlisted into the British Navy to crack war time encrypted messages of the Nazis and Japanese. The author does a wonderful job using journals and documents that survived to paint of picture of the characters. I also liked that the how’s of decrypting messages was described. A great historical STEM book. Perfect for YA and older who want to learn about WWII from a specific perspective or are interested in cryptography.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I can’t wait to get the hardcover I preordered!

Intriguing and hard to put down!
Such an interesting aspect of history that I know my students are going to love to read!

This book was very good! This is a part of history I didn't know and I am so glad that I know it now. Wow, women are powerful. Loved how this book was written. The author did a great job of telling the story of multiple different women and also giving us a lot of information on code cracking. This book is going to be best read in print as there are a lot of great photographs scatter throughout and they do not come across very well on a kindle.

Enigma Girls tells the individual stories of ten teenage girls living during World War II. Though they never meet each other, the girls work in the same place for the same general reasons. Their job is to intercept and decipher messages sent between German military officers. Each girl is assigned a different job in the long process. They can tell no one what they are doing, not even their families. It is said later that without their work, the war could have lasted at least two years longer with a much larger casualty rate.
Well researched and well written. Photographs throughout.
Fast paced and engaging.
Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to read this book before the release date.

World War II was a time filled with uncertainty and danger, and everyone was called upon to do their part for the war effort. In England, many young women and some young men were called to a place called Bletchley Park, where important work was being done to decipher intercepted messages to save British—and later Allied—lives. All of this work was top secret, and everyone only had a small piece of the puzzle to work with. But together, brainpower and collaboration led to some of the most important breakthroughs in the struggle and helped to turn the tide of the war.

This gripping narrative nonfiction story is well-suited to its target audience of young adult readers. Mature middle grade readers will also find the material accessible, especially as a plethora of photographs are incorporated within the book. The narrative covers the length of World War II from the perspective of Great Britain, introducing readers to a handful of real people whose work was pivotal in those dangerous times. By incorporating true stories, the book connects with readers on a human level and helps them to imagine how their lives might be if they were to find themselves in similar situations upon the conclusion of high school.

The book is designed to be accessible, and it accomplishes this through familiar language, short segments of text, and ample photographic inclusions. Periodically, readers are taught a new element of the process of deciphering, much like the routine those at Bletchley Park followed themselves. This interactive component allows readers to immerse themselves even more deeply in the work of the Enigma Girls while teaching them an interesting skill to use in their lives. Well-researched and clearly presented, this is a book that will particularly appeal to young adult readers with an interest in the more secret work taking place during World War II. This is an excellent addition to nonfiction library collections for young readers.

Enigma Girls offers a unique perspective on WWII and the often-overlooked contributions of women during wartime. My recent fascination with Bletchley Park and the Enigma machine was further fueled by the true stories within these pages. The women recruited to Bletchley Park were young, most between ages 17-20, and from many different backgrounds. These young women worked long, hard hours and contributed significantly to the war effort. In fact, many historians have said their heroic efforts may have shortened the war by two to four years. But for years, the work at Bletchley Park was classified and the girls were never allowed to talk about the work that they did. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that the British Government declassified documents pertaining to Bletchley Park. Many of the girls wrote about their work after it was declassified and the author does a good job of giving us insights into their day to day lives and work. For those of you who enjoyed this book, I wholeheartedly recommend the adult Historical Fiction "The Rose Code" by Kate Quinn, particularly the audio version. Additionally, the movies "The Imitation Game" and "Operation Mincemeat" are very entertaining with different perspectives from your typical war movie. In the 1990’s, a small group of independent history lovers saved Bletchley Park from ruin and restored it as a museum. After reading my third book about Bletchley Park and enigma machines, I might be a little obsessed and hope to add this to my bucket list of places to visit! Happy reading and watching!

In the spring of 1941, hundreds of young women from across the British Isles were instructed to report to Bletchley Park. Amidst brilliant cryptographers and absent-minded professors, it was the teenaged girls who ran the unwieldy bombe machines, made sense of wireless sound waves, and sorted the decoded messages, playing a crucial role in the wartime effort. Courageous young women played a vital role in turning the tides of World War II for the Allies at Bletchley Park and these are their stories.

Ciphers and codes have always been fascinating to me, mostly because even when the solution is spelled out I find it difficult to read! The fact that young women were thrown into the task of solving ciphers and codes caught my attention. Given the description of the conditions they worked in and the grueling task in front of them, I was astonished that more of them didn’t have a mental breakdown from the stress!

The author details different young women who performed different tasks at Bletchley Park and what it took to accomplish the task. Interspersed throughout are examples of the kinds of ciphers and codes and some of the methods used to solve them. Also included are a few of the pictures that survived the record purging that happened after the war.

I would recommend this to readers interested in ciphers and the work that went on in Bletchley Park.

What a wonderful book -- one I wish I had for inspiration when I was younger. Well written and fascinating. Thanks for the early read.

Candace Fleming writes the most interesting narrative nonfiction for middle schoolers. I can't wait to share these remarkable stories with the kids.

This middle-grade book tells the story of ten young women that worked at Bletchley Park intercepting messages from Nazi Germany. These messages, once received, needed to be sorted and even decoded by the women. The young women worked there in secret and were not allowed to talk to anyone—even each other at the dinner table—about what they were doing.

I really enjoyed reading about these young women and what they did. I also enjoyed the detailed sections on how to both create and break codes. I highly recommend this book to middle school aged readers! I give it 4/5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC for this book. The author shares interesting information about a the important role that young women played in the role of the war. The text with the accompanying photos helped me to better understand what happened at Bletchley.