School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-In this manual for would-be secret agents, Earnest gives an overview of a spy's life, jargon needed for the position, tips and tactics for honing surveillance skills, and some true life stories. Activities help readers practice writing code and "learn to describe someone in ten seconds." Occasional pen-and-ink illustrations, numerous sidebars, and bulleted items enliven the presentation. Overall, the book is a fun read and most enticing to readers with an interest in intelligence gathering. Although it's not a comprehensive resource, it is one to add to collections that offer multiple perspectives on a subject.-Richard J. Snyder, Inglewood Junior High School, Sammamish, WA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
This collaboration between Earnest, a former CIA operations officer (now founder/director of the International Spy Museum) and author Harper explores the history (and the future) of spying, as well as spy myth busting, the basics of the job and the ways kids can hone their skills. "Spy Speak" boxes provide definitions of the vocabulary used by spies, while quizzes and a chart about "the intelligence cycle" offer additional diversions. Those with active imaginations will appreciate sections like "How to Create a Cover," and aspiring Bonds will value the advice. Ages 8-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Being an exCIA agent and also Executive Director of the International Spy Museum in Washington, Earnest carries promising credentialsbut his career manual for would-be spies is a big yawn. Illustrated with drably impersonal line drawings of people in trench coats and largely devoid of actual examples, his narrative offers a generic view of what spies do, followed by comments on personal qualities that make good spy material and vague allusions to how CIA agents are trained (industrial espionage rates only a single brief mention). He then moves on to obvious advice about how field agents might enlist human "assets," get rid of a tail, present security reports to bosses and like spy-ish activities. Frequent "Spy Speak" boxes define special terms that are, mostly, already defined in nearby text. Readers with a serious yen to be intelligence agents will get more insight and information from the likes of Claudia B. Manley's Secret Agents: Life as a Professional Spy (2001), Kate Walker and Elaine Argaet's So You Want To Be a Spy (2004) or Richard Platt's Spy in the Eyewitness series (revised edition, 2009). (Nonfiction. 10-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
