Enigma (Camp X series, Book 6)

by Eric Walters
Puffin Canada
978-0-14-318710-3
256 pp.
Ages 9+
November, 2013

If you haven't shared in the Eric Walters' Camp X experience, then hold onto your fedora, homburg or baker boy's cap.  The series that began with brothers Jack and George discovering  a Canadian spy training camp, Camp X, near their summer residence in 1942 Whitby, Ontario has moved through four additional books and World War II continues to wreak havoc across the world and extend its reach.

George Braun, now 12, and his brother Jack, 15, are accompanying their parents by ship to England as part of a convoy of cargo ships, destroyers, corvettes and such when one of the ships is torpedoed by a U-boat in the Atlantic.  Before the U-boat is sunk, the Marines retrieve a device that has the MPs requesting that the boys' mother, Betty, and the rest of the family transfer to the destroyer Valiant for speedier delivery to England.  The device is an Enigma machine, the encrypting system the Germans were using, and "the key to winning the war" (pg. 55) according to Bill Stephenson, who leads the British security forces.

The family is taken to Bletchley Park, the headquarters of British encryption operations, where Mrs. Braun is asked to work with the genius, Professor Alan, and where Captain Braun is to assess, test and revamp security.  The boys who have already proved themselves in earlier adventures to be keen observers are invited to deliver messages and do odd jobs while helping to determine whether any spies or Nazi sympathizers may have already infiltrated Bletchley.  George and Jack meet up again with Ray, the ex-convict and master of disguise who they met in Trouble in Paradise and who now works for the government out of Bletchley Park.

But, everything seems to go amiss when the boys accompany Ray to London by train.  Jack goes along so that he can meet up and spend some alone time with Louise, the British princess they'd all originally been coming to England to visit.  George is to join Ray on the hunt for potential code-breakers.  When Ray is spotted by some old criminal colleagues, they are all taken at gunpoint and held until Ray gets into Naval Intelligence (where he now has access) and sneaks out the plans for which the Nazis are willing to pay Bruno and his fellow thugs loads of money. 

If this sounds like an edge-of-your-seat adventure, in which secrets must be kept and you don't know whom to trust, then you've got a good idea of how Enigma plays out.  George and Jack are typical brothers, always hassling each other, even more so now that Jack is in the throes of teen love.  Eric Walters does not disappoint in carrying the reader effortlessly through this newest Camp X adventure, making the boys' exploits seem almost realistic and probably the envy of every young reader who believe espionage to be a possible career option. (Is it?) By including the factual details of Enigma and Bletchley Park, as well as real persons like Ian Fleming, Bill Stephenson and Alan Turing, Eric Walters creates such authenticity in Enigma that some readers will wonder if the adventures are "just" stories or historical accounts of little-known events from World War II.  And that is an amazing accomplishment for any author.

If Enigma seems like a great read for a young person in your life, especially a boy who enjoys historical fiction suffused with spies, adventure and war, check out the whole Camp X series which includes six books to date:

1. Camp X
2. Camp 30
3. Fool's Gold
4. Shell Shocked
5. Trouble in Paradise
6. Enigma

With the publication of Enigma, Penguin has redesigned the covers of all books in the series.

Be assured, though, that regardless of the cover, the same great stories and writing will be found within.

The Creature Department

by Robert Paul Weston

Razorbill

978-1-59514-685-4

352 pp.

Ages 8-12

November, 2013

Reviewed from galley proof

Don't let the title or cover graphics deceive you into thinking The Creature Department is a horror story.  Remember that Robert Paul Weston, author of Zorgamazoo (Razorbill, 2008), Dust City (Puffin, 2010) and Prince Puggly of Spud and the Kingdom of Spiff (Puffin, 2013), has a wicked sense of humour and loves to embed fairytale-like stories with fantastical elements and the dark vices typical of humans.  Nothing terrifying there.  Just creative, whimsical, and full of rich characters and settings.  And original, captivating storylines!

The Creature Department is the name of the Research and Development Department which Elliot von Doppler's Uncle Archie heads at the tech company DENKi-3000.  When Quazicom Holdings International expresses its intent to purchase the company, Uncle Archie invites twelve-year-old Elliot and fellow student Leslie Fang (who tied with Elliot in a recent science fair) to help generate a new invention by which DENKi-3000 would regain its reputation for innovation. 

For the first time, Elliot (with Leslie) gets to visit his uncle's super-secret department which, surprisingly, is run by creatures! There's Gügor the Knucklecrumpler (an 8 ft. salamander-like creature) who's the head of Rickum Ruckery; Jean-Remy, a suave fairy-bat, in charge of Fiddly Bitology; Harrumphrey Grouseman, the Right-Hand Head;  Patti Mudmeyer, a bog nymph, who's in charge of design; and the lovable Colonel-Admiral Reginald T. Pusslegut a.k.a. Reggie, a bombastadon who is more than a glorified security guard.  When Uncle Archie disappears, and Quazicom sends their consultant, Chuck Brickwater, to learn DENKi-3000's secrets, it seems that Elliot and Leslie are the only hope for helping the creatures develop their next astounding invention. 

In a race against Quazicom and an unscrupulous VP at DENKi-3000, Elliot and Leslie learn some valuable lessons ("...ze troubles, more than anything else, zey make you who you are." pg 109), accept the value of having creativity and open-mindedness, and share some amazing experiences with their new friends. 

And the readers are treated to all the humour, wisdom, mystery, adventure and fantasy that Robert Paul Weston so effortlessly imbues his stories.  But, with the addition of wings, dreadlocks, knobbly hands, leathery skin, furry tails, cerebellows (for sucking ideas out of one's brain), leaky gills, sludge-dripping hair, greenish skins and blubberous physiques, the creatures of The Creature Department add a new graphic element to the story (though the illustrations in Robert Paul Weston's other books enhanced the stories well).  In fact, the creatures have gone beyond illustrator Zach Lydon's work on the page and into the realm of 3D creaturedom, courtesy of the visual effects studio, Framestone.   (Check them out at www.thecreaturedepartment.com)  Loveable, quirky, clever and kind – these creatures are more than cartoons characters.  They're the heart of The Creature Department.