BREAK MORE CODES!
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32 NAT GEO KIDS^ • JUNE / JULY 2019 RYAN ETTER / IKON IMAGES / GETTY IMAGES (HEADER BACKGROUND); SHUTTERSTOCK (MAP BACKGROUND)
CHECK
OUT
THE
BOOK!.
TEXT AND PUZZLE BY GARETH MOORE
In the new book Explorer Academy: The Falcon’s Feather,
12-year-old Cruz Coronado breaks secret codes in order to
fight dangerous villains and solve mysteries. Test your own
skills by cracking the code on this page, then check out
more about the book at ExplorerAcademy.com.
This code puts letters into boxes, or pens, giving it its name: the pigpen cipher. Each letter is represented by the section
of the grid it’s in. (In the key below, the dots are next to the letters. But in the coded message, the dots are placed in the
center.) Check out the pigpen alphabet below.
THE CODE: PIGPEN CIPHER
ANSWER ON PAGE 35
ABC
DEF
GH I
JKL
MNO
P
QR
S
TU
V
W
XY
Z
So you write FEATHER like this:
Using the pigpen alphabet, decode the message below.
THE PIGPEN ALPHABET
»
CRACK THIS CODE!