The Knowhow Book of Spycraft

by Falcon Travis, Judy Hindley

One of the Usborne Classics republished for this year's anniversary7+This book is all about keeping secrets. It shows you how toset up secret meeting places and a secret post office and how to disguise your messages and maps. It shows you lots of secret codes and signals. On the first page you will meet the Black Hat Spy. Watch out for the tricks he plays in Spy Trick – these are things real spies have done. There are messages in code all through the book - see if you can work them out. One of the first Usborne books to be published, reissued for the 40th anniversary of Usborne Publishing in 2013. As used in evidence at the high court trial of Soviet spy Oleg Gordievsky, who testified that this book gave away the KGB's tradecraft. The author, Falcon Travis, remains a mystery to this day.

Genres: Childrens, Nonfiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Clara Ellen]

I don't know if it was this edition or an earlier one, but this book was one of my favorites as a child! I remember how much I loved the different codes and secret signals. The illustrations also intrigued me. This is a great book for those children who love codes, puzzles, disguises, and other fun spy stuff!

[Pa Swarp]

This is a kids book that really came out in the 70s. It was a hard cover that I really liked as a boy. NOT sure how well boys in the 21st century will find this worth reading or not, i just had to share this is a paperback that has been reprinted. I liked it, I read again as an adult.

[Kara]

I loved this book as a kid. I read and re-read it countless times.

[Thomas]

What a fun little book. I will share this with my son. I’m curious what other children’s books this author/publishing company has available.