Yet one more attempt to integrate a puzzle book concept with a storyline. Here three diverse kids are worried about the absence of the friendly neighbourhood professor, with his cookies and his kooky collections and his love of setting them puzzles to solve. But when they go looking for him that is all they do find – puzzle after puzzle, which we have to solve too to try and work out where he might be.

Narratively it's just that – the three kids on a lengthy, convoluted trail, partly set in the old man's house but mostly in a mahoosive and surprisingly world-class museum. It is obvious from early on, to the characters and to us, that the old man is not in danger, and was able to set the clues at leisure – so why? Well, it's a way that opens this up for further books in the series but also proves they're going to be pretty self-contained if they do turn up.

Before then, here are word searches, sudokus, codes to be broken, and a fairly healthy spread of other tasks from the pages of IQ books. The book is certainly superior to many of its ilk in several ways – the puzzles don't fully interrupt the plot (having such a slight plot is help, there, of course), and you can't just see a stumper, give up, turn the page and learn the result, for the text is clever enough to not let on the answer right away. Some of the writing is poor – there are certainly instances of the kids speaking like no real human has ever spoken before, let alone junior ones. But the puzzle sections are fine, and build in difficulty each time to act as suitable brain-training exercises, for it's one specific kind of puzzle per chapter and not a random selection. The use-once aspect of the book is something that means this won't be in your library any time soon, but I can't dismiss the idea of a purchase being a sensible idea.

For middle graders who love solving puzzles and mysteries, this is a great read.
The Codebreaker’s Club is worried about their professor. He’s gone missing, but it will take some codebreaking to follow the clues to find out what happened to their beloved teacher.
The main element of this story is solving puzzles. There are all types of puzzles for readers to solve - logic puzzles, including crosswords, logic grids, rebuses, word searches, cypher codes. There’s little to the story element, but readers will have fun following the club as they go from clue to clue. There’s a mention of a ghost at one point before the kids open a mysterious door, but other than that, the story is squeaky clean. And a whole lot of fun.
The story reads well without solving the puzzles, but I suspect a lot of the fun is in the process.
I’d recommend this book to kids from nine to twelve who especially are interested in cryptography, mathematical and logic puzzles.
I received a copy from the publisher through Net Galley. All opinions expressed are my own.

When the Codebreakers Club’s beloved teacher goes missing, they starting noticing clues that could lead to his whereabouts. Chris, Kaira, and Ren must solve the puzzles and follow the clues to find Professor Perez! This book is chock full of puzzles for kids and would be an excellent interactive book for a student looking to hone their critical thinking skills. I hope that the author writes more, because I can imagine this being a series that I recommend to kids who love mysteries or are looking for a challenge.

As someone that enjoys puzzles and mysteries, I love the concept of this book. As a librarian, though, I would not add this book to my collection. People are going to solve these puzzles by writing in the book. Once that happens, the "fun" factor is lost for those that check the book out after that. I'd recommend this book for personal use, and it's something I would have bought for one of my children when they were younger, but I can not recommend this book for library collections.

No balance | I used to love books with puzzles to solve when I was little, so I don't enjoy giving the critique I'm putting here. I would have put this book down quickly as a kid, and never gone back to it. There are far too many puzzles without a compelling plot. The story parts are very mechanical, simply "the kids arrive at the next step, exchange unrealistic stilted dialogue about being afraid of ghosts, and find the next clues". The puzzles are in several cases confusing, and the transitions are abrupt, so there isn't enough motivation or explanation to do them. There are definitely kids who will appreciate this, but it's a very specific kind of mental processing that will find it engaging, and a narrow age range. It's also important to note that this needs to be purchased in print, not ebook, and that it's a one-time read, there's not enough story present to make it worth rereading, and once the puzzles are completed, that's it for the book.

Wanted to read this but it wouldn't download. Have to give a rating. Giving a 4 because of samples I saw online.

I received an electronic ARC from Zeitgeist through NetGalley.
The Codebreakers are three friends who must work together to solve the puzzles and find their friend, Professor Perez. Readers get to play along and solve the puzzles in each chapter. Answers are included at the end but I encourage readers to at least try the puzzles themselves before looking. The story has just a hint of danger and plenty of adventure for middle grade readers. I look forward to sharing this one and to more in the series.

While this book looks quite exciting, it was not possible for me to review it effectively since the puzzles do not display correctly in adobe digital editions. I hope when the book is released that any electronic version is checked for this. I would hate for people to spend money on a book that doesn't work correctly.

This is a great idea. As for the execution, I was not a fan of the balance between the puzzles and the story.
This is subjective though. The puzzles in this book and the characters are amazing.

4.5⭐️ rounded up and I’ll explain why…


I am thankful to have gotten the eARC for free from Netgalley and Zeitgeist Kids so I can leave my voluntary and honest review.

This is such a fun book for middle grade kiddos! I love that it’s a fun story where you have to solve the puzzles along the way. It reminds me of a “choose your own adventure” book but in a different way. The interactive nature of it could help many kids to enjoy reading if they are more math and logic minded and vice versa.

Please note that I read an eGalley that was for review purposes only. This means that the final version maybe a little different. Please keep that in mind when reading the following constructive criticism as well as why I have a suggestion.

The only issue I had with it is the level of difficulty for some of the puzzles. Now it may be because I am using an adult education which may over think some things? I am not sure. I’ll give an example. They had a puzzle to show word relationships.

And it had under the FOOD category
Chef to Knife as photographer is to _ _ _ _ _ _
Hamburger to Bun as
Quesadilla is to _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Peanut to Legume as
Zucchini is to _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

First, photographer to CAMERA has nothing to do with food and I made sure to check the answers to make sure I wasn’t forgetting something. The author couldn’t come up with any other relationship that was food related in order to get an “A”? I should mention that 1 letter in each answer is circles or boxed to use for another puzzle.
Then the peanut one while to an adult is fairly easy, I think may be a challenge for some middle graders. My initial response was peanut is to legume and Zucchini is to squash. Obviously that doesn’t have 9 letters so I figured it was vegetable. So yeah maybe it’s my adult mind looking at it but I did inquire elsewhere and it was a stumbling block with a 12 year old. I won’t spoil any more examples but they can be on the tougher end for many kids in the target audience, especially in the US.

My suggestion is that for starters an age range be posted at the beginning of the book as well with a difficulty level so kids know what they are getting into and don’t have their confidence altered.
My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.


However, this book is great! I highly suggest grabbing it for your classroom, library or for your favorite tween when it comes out on August 13th 2024. I’m certainly going to pick up a copy!
I typically don’t round up but while it had the minor concern above, it is a 5⭐️ book!

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

The Codebreaker Club:
150+ Logic Puzzles to Solve the Mystery of the Missing Puzzle Professor
Naoya Imanishi Med
The target audience for this book is upper elementary to lower middle school. This book teaches critical thinking, reading comprehension, and logical thinking. It is a quick fun read sure to entertain students and adults.
Their teacher is missing. The book has over 150 puzzles, solve the puzzles to find clues that will help the reader find the professor.
This book’s publication date is August 13, 2024.
Thank you NetGalley for the review copy. As always my reviews are my unbiased opinions.

I absolutely loved the concept for this book. It was easy to read a chapter, then work on the puzzles before moving on. I thought the puzzles were challenging but not difficult (and the hints were a good touch). My biggest frustration was that I read the title digitally, so it was difficult to do some of the puzzles effeciently.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and the puzzles. It is a great way to test your skills and patience.

This was a cute, quick read overall, but honestly 150 puzzles is too many. I enjoyed most of them, but some of them I just ended up skipping b/c I felt it interrupted the flow of the story and didn’t give enough depth to the characters or really build up the storyline. I liked the characters and I would enjoy reading another story with them, but with no more than 100 puzzles. My kiddo enjoys puzzles but there’s no way he would want to solve that many while reading a story. It would take a very specific audience for this book to appeal to. Kids who love reading as much as puzzles will adore this book.

What a fun read! This book follows a codebreakers club as they try to find their missing teacher. There are logic puzzles throughout this story as you read so you solve them as you go.

I really enjoyed this book! I loved the puzzles and the story throughout. I think this book will be a lot of fun for MG readers and it will help to sharpen their minds and puzzle solving skills.

I would definitely recommend to all puzzle lovers out there!

Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

This was really neat! Even for an adult like me it was captivating and fun. The puzzles within the story made you feel like you were right along side the characters. It felt like reading an escape room and I loved every second of it. I can't wait for more of this and it's an excellent book for any kid.

This is a great book to sit down with kids! The story along with the clues and puzzles is captivating and overall a fun read!

A terrific book for kids 9-12 to sharpen logic and critical thinking skills, with 150+ puzzles that serve as clues for finding the Codebreaker Club's missing professor. I had a ball reading it, and MG readers AND adults will enjoy it too. What fun!