Spy School Entrance Exam

Jeff Chen and Stuart Gibbs teamed up to bring fans the best of Spy School and tricky puzzles. Stuart Gibbs uses the personality of each notable character in Spy School to discuss the tasks. The nice characters give lots of hints, and the characters known for their tough love give few hints. Then there is Murray Hill, the villain, who has hijacked a few chapters and only gives diabolical hints and expects you to cheat to understand the tasks.
Each chapter ends with a password that is needed for the last puzzle. I appreciate the answers are in the back because I was stumped more than once. The target audience is for 8+, and you need to be at least that to follow some of these challenges. There are unusual twists to keep the puzzles intriguing, like Sudoku but with letters. For whatever reason, that was much harder than when it is numbers. I like that many of the puzzles have step-by-step instructions and a progression from easy to hard to “train” you for spy school. All of it culminates to a site you can plug your final answer into and if you are like me the” I give up” explain it to me button is hidden in the black text on the website but it will allow you to enter the password and the villainous password to satisfy that you have made it to the end.
I worked with my child on a few pages a night, which gave us months of entertainment. The book is in standard novel size, which does make it challenging to work with a partner. One tip we recommend is to take a picture of some pages so you don’t have to flip back when applying a cipher to a puzzle. My favorite section was the Murray Hill chapter. The more unhinged your answer, the more correct you were, and my son was a bit shocked at some of my answers, leading to lots of laughs.
Overall, it was an entertaining puzzle book, well worth the price, considering it is a one-time experience. Our brains were stretched, and logic was strengthened during our training exercises. My family had to get past a bit of shock to see me writing directly into a book (because the horror!) and we had months of fun working through these puzzles.

What worked:
This book is a collection of puzzles enriched by the Spy School characters. The premise of the book is past mistakes led to security breaches and tainted recruitment of new CIA spies. The puzzles in this book present a new step in the screening process to identify intelligent, qualified candidates. After a brief, redacted introduction from the new CIA director, Zoe describes the first set of puzzles, word searches. Zoe has been a kind character in the past so Erica Hale presents a contrasting tone in the next section, different types of codes. Erica says she won’t be as supportive as Zoe since she’s “a spy, not a cheerleader”. Alexander Hale, Erica’s father, continues his tendency to exaggerate past accomplishments as he introduces “Outside the Box” mental challenges. However, Murray Hill, the antagonist in most of the Spy School books, interrupts and shares clever and devious solutions to the challenges. More characters from the series return to share Crypt-to-grams, crosswords, Battleship-like Battle Royale, and other familiar activities.
Many of the puzzle formats will be familiar to middle-grade readers although modifications have been made to make things trickier. Most people have seen Sudoku with numbers but how many are ready for a Sudoku with letters? “Chain Letters of Doom” requires readers to connect all twenty-six letters of the alphabet, in order, without crossing the connecting line. A fun twist to every section is the final puzzle’s hidden, coded messages that will be used later in the book. This detail promotes the book’s spy theme and helps to connect all of the different sections. In addition, all of the text, clues, and explanations are related to readers applying to become new CIA agents and to thoughts of the Spy School series.
Fans of Spy School will enjoy revisiting characters they’ve enjoyed in the past. Ben Ripley talks about his limited qualifications as a CIA agent even though he’s the main character of the series. He introduces Sudoku puzzles while Catherine Hale describes Double-Cross Crosswords. The characters mention previous events and missions so they evoke readers’ memories from other books. The last section of the book shares solutions to all of the puzzles. Of course, Murray Hill’s explanations cover more pages because he must share the clever solutions and then follow with his multiple devious solutions for villains.
What didn’t work as well:
Everyone can enjoy the variety of puzzles but they will need to read previous Spy School books to fully appreciate the characters and narratives. They have unique personalities and there are references to previous moments or relationships in the series. Crossword clues are related to the series so readers will need to have some knowledge of previous books to complete them.
The final verdict:
This book will be a treat for loyal readers although those unfamiliar with the series may not enjoy it as much. The different versions of familiar puzzles and challenges make them more interesting and difficult. Those who enjoy puzzles and Spy School will love this book and I recommend you check it out!