For Ages
8 to 12

Cracking the code isn’t all it’s cracked up to be in this scavenger-hunt adventure from a Coretta Scott King Honor–winning author.

Chester Keene takes great comfort in his routines. After school Monday to Thursday is bowling, and Friday, the best of days, is laser tag! But most special of all is when Chester gets secret spy messages from his dad, who is always on covert government assignments, which is why Chester has never met him.

Then, one day at lunch, Chester’s classmate Skye approaches him with a clue. They’ve been tasked with a complex puzzle-solving mission. Chester takes their assignments very seriously, but Skye treats it like a big game. Skye proves to be a useful partner and good company, even if her haphazard, free-wheeling ways are disruptive to Chester’s carefully curated schedule.

As Chester and Skye get closer to their final clue, they discover the key to their spy assignment: they have to stop a heist! But cracking this code might lead to a discovery Chester never saw coming.

An Excerpt fromChester Keene Cracks the Code

1

Routine

Everyone probably assumes my life is very boring. Strictly speaking, they’re not wrong. It’s really just that I like things to be done a certain way.

I get up in the morning at 6:35, five minutes after my alarm goes off at 6:30. I have to take five minutes to just lie there and look at the ceiling. I’m not sure why.

A lot of thoughts fill my mind in that morning quiet, and the first thing I want to do is find a way to not think them. When my snooze alarm goes off, it plays music, which helps. My brain sings along to The Best of Motown and that’s always a good way to get things going.

“Things” being: my morning routine.

First, the shower. I wash my hair in there every other day. Brush teeth, for bad-­breath control. Put on clothes, usually jeans. I own one pair of corduroys, but I only wear them maybe every other week. Just to mix it up. On top, it’s either T-shirts, or polos with various stripes across the chest.

Under the Cover