Skip to content
Pragmatic Mom
Menu
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact
    • Policies
    • Media Kit
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright
    • KidLit Blogroll
  • My Book Lists
    • My List of Lists
    • Multicultural Books for Children: 60+ Book Lists
    • #OwnVoices
    • Summer Reading Lists for Middle School Kids
    • Asian American Children’s Books
    • African American Children’s Books
    • Arab American Children’s Books
    • Latinx American Children’s Books
    • Native American Children’s Books
    • LGBTQIA+ Children’s Books
    • Diverse Books for Kids
    • Best Books for Kids
  • Education
    • STEM/STEAM
    • Math
    • Social Studies
    • Art Projects for Kids
    • Applying to Art School
    • Applying to College
    • Book Club for Kids
    • 70+ Free Educational Games
  • Controversial
    • Sexual Misconduct in Children’s Book Publishing #MeToo #TimesUp
    • Rethinking & Examining Dr. Seuss’ Racism
    • Blood Feud over YA #BloodHeir
    • Tulsa Race Massacre: What They Don’t Teach You in History Books
    • The Chinese Exclusion Act – What They Don’t Teach in History Books
    • Segregation in California Schools: What They Don’t Teach in History Books
    • SCBWI Minnesota Racist Illustration and Gaslighting Response
  • My Books
    • My Book Announcements
    • Book Announcement: A Place to Call Home! {and a new title …}
    • FOOD FOR THE FUTURE makes Sunshine State Young Readers Award Orange Blossom List for Nonfiction!
    • Cover Reveal of my latest picture book … FORTUNE COOKIES FOR EVERYONE!
    • Picture Book Announcement! BARBED WIRE BETWEEN US, illustrated by Violeta Encarnación
    • We Sing From the Heart gets a few stickers!
    • Book Announcement! Postcards from Malcolm X: How Yuri Kochiyama Became a Civil Rights Activist
    • Kirkus Reviews My Newest Picture Book: THE TRAVELING TACO
    • We Sing From the Heart is a Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner!
    • We Sing From the Heart gets a few stickers!
    • WE SING FROM THE HEART wins California Eureka! Nonfiction Children’s Book Award
    • WE SING FROM THE HEART is Orbis Pictus Recommended Book
    • WE SING FROM THE HEART is a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection
    • Dorktales Podcast: Simon Tam, Hidden Hero of History
    • Food for the Future Wins Nautilus Silver Book Award
    • Food for the Future makes Mass Book Award Long List!
    • FOOD FOR THE FUTURE Makes Green Earth Book Award Long List!
    • Food for the Future is a finalist for 2023 INDIES Book of the Year!
    • New! Food for the Future Activity and Discussion Guide!
    • FOOD FOR THE FUTURE is a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection!
    • ‘Food for the Future’ selected for Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best books
    • Scholastic Purchased CHANGING THE GAME!
    • Starred Review for FOOD FOR THE FUTURE from School Library Journal!
    • Sumo Joe makes Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year list!
    • How To Coach Girls wins Silver Award!
    • Posts on My Books
  • My Book Events
    • My Book Events
    • OCA Reads: A Virtual Conversation with Mia Wenjen
    • The Traveling Taco Storytime and Craft at Ten Trees Books
Menu
The Unbreakable Code, Sarah Hoagland Hunter, advanced picture book, book club for boys,

Update on Boys Book Club: What Worked and Didn’t Work

Posted on February 26, 2012May 28, 2024 by Pragmatic Mom

Code Breaking Book Club for Boys

I have to say that I am generally nervous each time I host a kids’ book club, more so than when I host a party. I don’t know but I think that I want so very much for the kids to love reading and for their book club to be their very favorite activity in the whole world! So, the pressure was on. I posted on preparing for the book club so if you are interested in duplicating it, please see that post.

Usually, I organize the book club well in advance, but this one I didn’t because I decided to make a de-coding group scavenger hunt so I needed to hide the loot the day of.

The Unbreakable Code by Sara Hoagland Hunter, illustrated by Julia Miner

The Unbreakable Code, Sarah Hoagland Hunter, advanced picture book, book club for boys,

Here’s your shopping list if you want to try this book club:

  • Copy The Cypher Wheel onto stiffer card stock, one per child a few extra in case of mishaps. I used Staples copy center.
  • Brads, one per child. Those are those brass thing-a-ma-bobs that come 100 in a tiny box. I got them at Staples too. Note that you don’t need a hole punch. I bought a single one but it’s too short to actually work.
  • Scissors, one pair per child.
  • Stuff for prizes that are small and easy to hide. I used candy (Jolly Ranchers and Hershey Kisses, plus small boxes of Jolly Ranchers Chewy as the grand prize — one for each kid).
  • Brown paper bags, one per child for them to keep their loot. Please label them.
  • Snack for the kids.
  • Pens and pads of paper for each child.
  • small bowls, spoons, toothpicks: one per child to mix the invisible ink.
  • baking soda, bowl of water, tablespoon to measure equal parts water to baking soda.
  • light source to hold paper over like a desk lamp.
To do in advance of the book club:
  • Make clues.
  • Put in clear baggies with handful of candy if you wish.
  • Hide the clues.
I made 8 clues and it took a good hour to decode and find the loot.
Here are samples:
1) A=V
O E H S (unscramble the word)
G V A W X U D decode
Clue: Shoe Cabinet where I hit the clue in a drawer. I made the boys take turns searching one section of the shoe armoire in our hallway to prevent mayhem.
2) A=P
G Z E Y
Decode and scramble the word. I also drew a picture of a cabinet as a clue.
Clue: RICE. I hid the clue in a bag of rice.
3) A=T
U B X W
just decode
Clue: POTS, I hid the clue in a cooking pot
4) A= L
M P L O Z
I drew three piano keys (two white ones with a black one above). I drew an arrow from the black key to the clue. When the boys solved the clue: BLACK, I had them color in the black square and guess what it was. They guessed a few times before realizing it was part of a piano keyboard. I hid the clue in the piano bench.
5) A = D
E C B N H, here they need to unscramble the word but I forgot to tell them and they decoded it. Oops! My bad!
P T B V C Y G F T, they need to decode this
Clue: Bench Vestibule. We have a bench in our vestibule that has a lift up seat. I hid it in there.
Tips and Tricks for a Smooth Book Club That I Learned The Hard Way:
  • The Cypher Wheel is very confusing. The yellow wheel needs to be set at the arrow to the letter, then it needs to STAY THERE. A= F, for example, all the codes are when the A is set to the F on the marigold colored outer ring. For the first clue, make sure that every kid knows how the decoder works.
  • Some kids are faster at decoding which caused my son to have a meltdown mid-book club. Put one child in charge of each clue and make sure you have an even amount of clues to go around. This child is in charge of the decoding. He calls out each letter to be decoded and writes it down. He can also lead the team to the spot to search for the clue.
  • If you don’t want the boys sugared up, you can hide the clues and use one small toy per child as the finale. Sadly, I set a precedent that book club = candy.
  • For the final activity, the boys mixed the invisible ink solution and each boy went off to hide the prize. He then gave his clue to a boy and made sure the child found the prize. At this point, the moms were here and I chatted with them. The boys were able to do this independently. I let them do any kind of clue they wanted. One boy did pig latin, for example. I think using the decoder too!
I do feel that a huge bonus to the book club is learning group dynamics. It’s important to take turns being the leader and the follower. It also was a happy surprise that the boys returned to the dining room table after each clue to solve it.
I actually needed to be there to help — sometimes I made an error writing the code! Another time, my mishap was that there were 5 words that the unscrambled word could make. Oops, did not realize that! But I thought that having boys alternate between active and table work was the perfect mix for little boys.
The next day, my son asked me if we had a book club next week AND one little boy brought a code book to school. I also heard that the third boy played with his Decoder Cypher Wheel at home. Yay! A victory for literacy!
Buy from Amazon.com

To examine any of the items listed, please click on image of item. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Follow PragmaticMom’s board Children’s Book Activities on Pinterest.

 

Follow PragmaticMom’s board Multicultural Books for Kids on Pinterest.

Follow PragmaticMom’s board Children’s Book Activities on Pinterest.

 

My books:

We Sing From the Heart picture book cover reveal of The Slants Simon Tam

 Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Cover Reveal: Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime!Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World

  • Junior Library Guild Gold selection
  • Massachusetts Book Award Long List
  • Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
  • Starred review from School Library Journal
  • Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
  • 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
  • Green Earth Book Award Long List
  • Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids

 Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me

cover for Sumo JoeChanging the Game: Asian Pacific American Female Athletes by Mia WenjenAmazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me

The Elusive Full Ride Scholarship: An Insider’s Guide

How To Coach Girls by Mia Wenjen and Alison FoleyAsian Pacific American Heroes

6 thoughts on “Update on Boys Book Club: What Worked and Didn’t Work”

  1. Melissa @imaginationsoup says:
    February 26, 2012 at 9:00 am

    yeah, success! & what a great activity – love it!!

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      February 29, 2012 at 1:55 pm

      To Melissa,
      Thanks! Phew! I’m so glad the boys had a good time and want more book clubs! Pressure is off!

      Reply
  2. Dee says:
    February 26, 2012 at 12:14 pm

    Wow – sounds like a great success! If I didn’t already have scouts to lead, I’d probably try this.

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      February 29, 2012 at 1:56 pm

      To Dee,
      Thanks so much! It was a lot of fun to watch the boys de-code and hunt for clues with such enthusiasm. My bad on having some codes with errors!

      Reply
  3. Ann says:
    February 27, 2012 at 5:24 pm

    Definite victory! What a GREAT mom you are! Awesome way to get kids excited about reading!!! I am going to bookmark this post for when my son gets older.

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      February 29, 2012 at 2:01 pm

      To Ann,
      Thanks so much! Phew! Glad it went well and it was fun for me too!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Looking for something? Search here.

I’m Mia Wenjen!

Mia Wenjen Pragmatic Mom

Hi, I’m Mia Wenjen. Nice to meet you!

I blog excessively about diverse children’s books (picture books through middle grade). I am also the co-founder of Read Your World Celebrates Multicultural Children’s Book Day on Jan 25, 2024, our 11th year!

I’d love to chat with you. Let’s connect! PragmaticMomBlog (at) gmail (dot) com or through my social media handles.

Free Blog Updates in your Inbox (RSS feed)

Monthly Newsletter with Subscriber Only Giveaways in your Inbox

My Linktree (click for my links & socials)

my linktree

My Websites

  • How To Coach Girls
  • I Love Newton
  • Mia Wenjen (My New Author Website)

Camp Cody: Overnight Camp in New Hampshire

Read Your World LGBTQIA+ Books Save Lives Merch!

https://www.pragmaticmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Read-Your-World-FINAL-Merchandise-Video.mp4

Purchase Read Your World Merch

LGBTQIA+ Books Save Lives Merch.

Buy it here!

Search Amazon

Find Children's Books

Newton Children’s Book Festival 2025

Newton Children's Book Festival 2025

Get My Books Signed or Inscribed through my shop (click to purchase)

Mia Wenjen signed books

Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime! (click to purchase)

Cover Reveal: Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime!

We Sing From the Heart (click to pre-order)

We Sing From the Heart picture book cover reveal of The Slants Simon Tam

FOOD FOR THE FUTURE (click to purchase)

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng

CHANGING THE GAME (click to purchase)

Changing the Game: Asian Pacific American Female Athletes by Mia Wenjen

SUMO JOE (click to purchase)

Sumo Joe cover reveal

Asian Pacific American Heroes (click to purchase)

Asian Pacific American Heroes by Mia Wenjen

GNOMES & UNGNOMES: Poems of Hidden Creatures // I have 3 haiku poems (click to purchase)

GNOMES & UNGNOMES: Poems of Hidden Creatures 3 haiku by Mia Wenjen
Read Your World is Multicultural Children's Book Day

ClothingRIC- A Premium Coupon Website!

ThingsFromMars- The Wondrous World of Wacky Gift Products!

How to Get Kids Reading

  • Multicultural Books for Children: 60+ Book Lists
  • Getting Kids to Love Reading
  • Summer Reading Lists for Kids By Grade
  • Summer Reading Lists for Middle School Kids

Heim Nest Kid Mattress Exclusive Deal

Heim Nest Kid Mattress

AdvancedWriters.com is an expert writing service which helps students with academic writing.

educational toys

CEX.IO is a versatile crypto exchange platform where users can buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies, as well as access resources and tools to learn how to trade effectively.

MyPaperDone.com
is surely one of the best when it comes to paper writing assistance.

My Custom Essay
will guide you through academic life.

Essay Writing Services

If you ask "write my essay", Topessaywriting can help you with paper writing

TranslationReport can help you to choose the best translation service

If you are looking for the most trusted essay writing service, check this article about best essay writing service reviews at Econotimes

educational toys from dhgate stores

Assignment Writing Services Offer Assignment Assistance In UK Based Company 50% Discount Students

Playing at online casinos can be an exciting and rewarding experience, and you can find the best options at casinoszondercruksonline.com. 

For those seeking a safe and reputable gambling experience, the Meest betrouwbare buitenlandse casino lijst is an invaluable resource.

Archives

Categories

The Elusive Full Ride Scholarship (click to purchase)

The Elusive Full Ride Scholarship: An Insider’s Guide

HOW TO COACH GIRLS (click to purchase)

How To Coach Girls silver award winner

Archives

I’ll be sharing WHAT I WISH I KNEW BEFORE I STARTED MY KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN

HOW TO COACH GIRLS book trailer by Mia Wenjen & Alison Foley

https://youtu.be/j74M0bBxrGg

Recent Posts

  • Food for the Future’s 2nd Birthday! & 2 Signed Book GIVEAWAY! May 23, 2025
  • Maui: Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum May 21, 2025
  • Origami French Fries: Activity for THE TRAVELING TACO May 19, 2025
  • OCA Reads: A Virtual Conversation with Mia Wenjen May 16, 2025
  • Book Announcement: A Place to Call Home! {and a new title …} May 14, 2025

Categories

© 2025 Pragmatic Mom | Powered by Superbs Personal Blog theme
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
SAVE & ACCEPT