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OLOGIES CODE-WRITING KITS
edited by Dugald A. Steer
Candlewick Press
Ages 8-up
32 pages
The 'Ologies series explores the mythical and fantastic in a series of books and related toys about dragons, ancient Egypt, wizards and fairies, and pirates. The latest products in this series are code-writing kits that invite children to engage with the subjects in a creative, hands-on way.
These kits --- which include 16 sheets of paper, 16 envelopes, six postcards and two sheets of stickers --- are essentially cleverly packaged stationary sets. But don't tell the kids! They are going to be too busy writing secret messages and decoding ancient hieroglyphs to listen anyway.
From the desk of dragonologist Dr. Ernest Drake is the DRAGONOLOGY CODE-WRITING KIT, where children can learn to read and write in ancient dragon script. When verbal communication is not possible, Dr. Drake tells us, writing in dragon script is the only option. The dragon script codes included are the Lambert script, which is based on the English alphabet, and the Anglo-Saxon Runes, which are thought to be derived from original dragon script. Dragons love riddles; included is a dragon riddle to translate as well as a message found, we are told, carved into a rock near Surrey, England. The included stationary has lovely line drawings with a Celtic feel, the stickers include many various images of dragons and the postcards (two each of three designs) are whimsical but not silly.
From the desk of Miss Emily Sands comes the EGYPTOLOGY CODE-WRITING KIT. Miss Sands's kit explains in a clear manner what hieroglyphs are and pairs sounds in the alphabet with corresponding symbols. The kit has a few cartouches (special hieroglyphs designating important names) to decipher. She encourages children to try inventing their own pictograms and a cartouche for their own names. The stationary looks like papyrus, the stickers show a variety of images and the postcards are reminiscent of 19th- and early 20th-century Egyptian tourist images.
Would-be wizards will be thrilled by the WIZARDOLOGY CODE-WRITING KIT, which explains cryptography, the study of code-writing and how it is particularly useful for the conveyance of secrets. The kit offers four codes: the Bi-Literarie Alphabet, the Polybius's Cypher and the ever-popular Pig Latin, as well as a code using mysterious symbols in place of letters and numbers. Aspiring wizards are advised to make up a code of their own invention as well. The packaging and stationary are appropriately wizardly with mythical creatures, Merlin-esque figures, secret books and symbols.
And finally, the PIRATEOLOGY CODE-WRITING KIT invites us to learn to write in secret seafarers' codes. Captain William Lubber tells us that the ability to decipher codes is an invaluable skill for all aspiring pirate hunters and, we can assume, for the pirates themselves. This set introduces a simple code (A=H, B=U, C=R, etc.), devised by the wicked pirate Carlston, and an encoded message in need of deciphering. The kit presents two other codes as well: a secret flag code and a more complicated Babington Code with its own letters standing for letters of the alphabet. The stationary here is bold and attractive, and the postcards include a dramatic swashbuckling scene.
All four kits will have children writing plenty of secret messages and old-fashioned letters. But only other dragonologists, Egyptologists, wizards and pirate hunters will be able to read them!
--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
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