Secrets and Spies: The Underground World of Espionage is a children’s non-fiction book which as you may have guessed from the title is all about spies and spying. The book provides information on what spying is as well as some of the most famous spies in both the real world and the fictional world, plus, gadgets that have been used throughout history, closing with spying in the present era.

The book is written in chronological order and begins in the ‘Ancient World’ where spies have been recognised as early as the 4th century especially in places like Greece, Egypt, China, and Italy.

The book moves through time including Medieval times, the Tudor period, and the World Wars.

Some of the people that caught my eye were, Julie Child who invented a shark repellent to stop sharks accidentally setting off bombs intended for German U-boats, and Juan Pujol Garcia (AKA Garbo), who after being turned down by the British Secret Service to spy for them, he approaches the Germans and they accept his offer, however, he wasn’t really spying for them he was giving them misinformation, he didn’t even step foot in Britain until the British found out what he was up to and recruited him. After the war, he moved to Venezuela and opened a book shop.

The book has been written in a comic book style with bright colourful illustrations adorning every page. The information has been broken up into small passages making it easy to read and hopefully easier for the facts to sink in.

I adored Secrets and Spies: The Underground World of Espionage, I loved gaining so much knowledge and of course, with James Bond being the movie of the moment, I am sure children will be eager to read about spies and spying, plus, there is a section on Bond and the author of the books Ian Fleming too for them to enjoy.