The Bletchley Riddle: A Middle School Novel Study Guide and Book Review

 I was looking for a good historical fiction book this summer and Impossible Escape by Steve Sheinkin came onto my radar.  It is good.  Very good.  But not for sixth graders.  

 So I kept looking.  And randomly one day, I saw The Bletchley Riddle also by Sheinkin but in partnership with Ruta Sepetys, author of Salt to the Sea and Shades of Grey.  I felt like I'd hit the jackpot!  And I was introduced to some World War II history that I knew very little about.

The Bletchley Riddle Summary:

The Bletchley Riddle, co-written by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin, follows 19-year-old Jakob Novis and his 14-year-old sister Lizzie during the summer of 1940, as Nazi air raids hammer London and Jakob is recruited into the real-life codebreaking operation at Bletchley Park.  While Jakob works to crack the Enigma code, Lizzie is chasing a mystery of her own: their mother has disappeared, and the messages arriving on their doorstep might be connected.  If you've read or taught Salt to the Sea, this is a natural for you.  Both books put WWII into the hands of teenage protagonists instead of adults.  Great for teaching point of view!

What is The Bletchley Riddle About?

The chapters alternate between Jakob's and Lizzie's points of view, each written by the same author (Sheinkin wrote Jakob's chapters, Sepetys wrote Lizzie's) which gives students a case study in both author's craft and point of view.  As Jakob gets pulled deeper and deeper into the secrecy of Bletchley Park and Lizzie digs into her mother's disappearance, the siblings realize the two mysteries may be connected.  This book is historical fiction with a strong mystery running through it.  It references real history: the Enigma code, the Polish Codebreakers who set the groundwork before the war, Alan Turing, and the Official Secrets Act that kept Bletchley Park a secret for decades after the war ended.

Why This Book Works Well in the Classroom:

A few reasons why this one earns a spot in a WWII unit instead of just sitting next to one:

• It's great for reluctant readers without talking down to stronger ones.  It has short chapters, alternating narrators, and a heart-pounding mystery to solve along the way.
• The history is the plot and the setting.  Students aren't reading a novel with facts sprinkled in here and there.  The codebreaking, the Blitz, and the secrecy around Bletchley Park drive what happens next.
• It pairs naturally with many other novels!  Novels like Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac, Refugee, Prisoner B-3807, Grenade, or Allies by Alan Gratz, Resistance by Jennifer Nielsen, The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, or The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron, to name a few.
• It hits a wide range of standards in one book: point of view, author's craft, cause and effect, problem and solution, inference, figurative language, and summarizing all come up naturally across the chapters.

How to Teach This Book in Your Classroom:

A few The novel study is built around six sections, each covering a chunk of the book's 94 very short chapters, so it flexes to whatever schedule you're working with.

1. Set the stage - Before reading, have students study the cover, discuss the genre (there's more than one), then meet each of the authors and learn about how they wrote the book.
2. Read in whatever format best fits your classroom - whole class read aloud, lit circles, or independent or partner reading?  They all work.  There's no fixed schedule, you do as much or as little as you want to do.
3. Build background knowledge as you go - if your students are anything like me, they may know little about the codebreaking activities mentioned.  As you read, students have the opportunity through links to learn more.
4. Let students decode real ciphers - Several cipher activities are included that mirror the ones that Jakob and Lizzie are trying to solve.
5. Cover the whole range of comprehension skills without repetition - Character traits, cause and effect, sequence of events, figurative language, inferencing, summarizing are all addressed in different formats to keep students engaged.
6. Extension activities provide choice - from book reviews to research projects to designing ciphers, there's something for everyone.
7. Answer keys - a complete answer key is included, because, of course!

Want to teach this without all the headaches of putting together your own novel study guide?  Click here to take a closer look at what I've done for you.

FAQs:

What grade level is The Bletchley Riddle novel study for?

• It's built for 5th and 6th grades though it could work well for strong 4th grade readers or as as 7th grade World War II unit alongside other texts.

Is The Bletchley Riddle historical fiction or a mystery?

• Both.  Hopefully you've taught your students that this is quite common.  The dominant genre is historical fiction but there is a mystery running through the entire book.

Does this novel study guide include an answer key?

• Yes.  Every question, long or short has an answer, so it works for whole class discussion, lit circles, or independent reading without extra prep on your end.

Do students need to know about WWII or codebreaking before starting?

• No.  Background knowledge on Alan Turing, the Polish codebreakers, and the history of Bletchley Park is built into the packet and introduced exactly where it's relevant in the story.