Guest Post - Sarah Baker - Eloise Undercover - UK Blog (5) Tour - MORSE CODE (Catnip)

ELOISE UNDERCOVER

France, 1944. 12-year-old Eloise’s father has not come home in over a week, and she is getting worried that something might be badly wrong. When the Germans occupy Eloise’s town, and the Nazi Kommandant moves into Maison de la Noyer, things start falling apart. Through a chance meeting, Eloise volunteers to join the Resistance. Suspense, secrecy and danger follow her as, inspired by her favourite detective fiction books, she tries to find her father. A hidden passage behind a tapestry, a deportation list and a race against time... Will Eloise find her father? And what other secrets will she reveal?

Read an extract from the book.

Published by Catnip Paperback, £6.99, 9 + year olds, ISBN: 9781910611135- OUT NOW.

--- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . 

Do you know that this says? 

It says Morse Code! 

(Pinterest photo credit) 


Morse Code is a series of dots and dashes used to send individual letters of the alphabet. If you use it over a short wave radio the long and short tones are referred to as dits and dahs. You could also use a torch!

(link to photo credit): http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/code/ei/w2-ei.html 


Morse code was used during WW2 because it was the simplest, most recognizable and understandable signal to send. Online encoding didn’t exist yet, so the safest way of making sure your message was secure was to encrypt it yourself, then send it. Someone at the other end would write down your message, feed it through the same manual decoding system in reverse and… voila! 


Could you be a covert code breaker? 


Here’s an example of a substitution cipher. Each letter of the alphabet has been substituted with a code letter. 

HINT: Sometimes it helps to work on the short words first (notice how NBY is repeated several times!) 


Here’s a question for you written in code. Can you crack it? 
QBUN QUM NBY ZCLMN MUNYFFCNY NI ILVCN NBY YULNB? 


Here’s the alphabet to help you. 
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 

Got it? If so, congrats, you’re on your way to becoming a spy! If not, here’s the key: 


Question: 
QBUN QUM NBY ZCLMN MUNYFFCNY NI ILVCN NBY YULNB? 

Key: 
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 
GHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEF 

You can use random orders and patterns, but in this case the alphabet has simply shifted 6 places to the right. 


Question: 
QBUN QUM NBY ZCLMN MUNYFFCNY NI ILVCN 
WHAT WAS THE FIRST SATELLITE TO ORBIT 
NBY YULNB? 
THE EARTH? 

Answer: 
Sputnik 1 


If this was far too easy, try a harder cipher HERE or you can find out how much more you need to learn about being a spy by booking one of my school workshops HERE 



Big thanks to Education.com for the Code Breaker resources.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sarah Baker is a children’s writer based in London. Her previous book, Through the Mirror Door, has been very well received by bloggers, bookshops, and readers. Sarah has worked extensively in film, with roles at Aardman Features, the Bermuda Film Festival and as Story Editor at Celador Films. She writes guest features for a number of online magazines and blogs, including the popular #vintage baker finds pieces for Bristol Vintage. ELOISE UNDERCOVER is Sarah’s second novel.

Find out more at bysarahbaker.com<http://bysarahbaker.com/>  and follow Sarah on Instagram and twitter @bysarahbaker

Book Review: Dan Smith - My Brother's Secret - Published by Chicken House

The first book that I read by Dan Smith was 'My Friend the Enemy'. At large it showed the developments and the perspective of what it was like to be living in Britain in World War Two. The hardships and the reality of death; a strong sense of communities pulling together and friendships developing but war always has two sides to it. What if you flipped that on it's head and showed the same reality living in Germany in 1941? Would there still be the same problems, questions and opinions, not everyone shares the same beliefs and opinions of Adolf Hitler?

In my humble opinion, this books explores the theme of war in a sensitive and understanding nature. The story takes inspiration from the original Edelweiss Pirates, a loosely organised youth movement, where groups arose in response to the strict paramilitary of Hitler Youth and initially rebelled against the government's control of leisure time. It is based on real Second World War events; the author has weaved in both fact and fiction to deliver a narrative that will provoke deep thoughts, feelings and give the reader a greater understanding as to how the fight for freedom was one of the hardest times that Europe went through.

Told through the eyes of a twelve year old boy from Germany, Karl wants his country to win the war. His father has gone away to fight, but will he ever return to his family? The book is full of family love and conversations that reflect the difficult and testing time. I really did enjoy following Karl and learning about his views, opinions and feelings throughout the book. I thought these were beautifully portrayed in the story. I could visualise the narrative and see what was happening through the character's eyes.

I did feel that the book was slightly too short, but nevertheless I really did enjoy the reading experience of what it was like to be a child gripped in the face of evil and conflict in war.  I really loved the start of the first chapter which is entitled War Games. From that moment, I saw the rapid change in Karl's mindset which to me was the highlight of the book. I would really love for more people to read this type of book, especially as you can discuss the issues faced by the characters and begin to understand and recognise the historical events of that time in 1941.

From the words of Barry Cunningham, 'fighting for our freedom - who knows if it may be something we have to choose again one day!' To me that sums up the book, so take a copy off the bookshelves to read as you will not be disappointed.

Published by  Chicken House; 1 edition (1 May 2014)