This book is extraordinarily exciting and will keep you on the edge of your seat until the end! When the main characters, Ella and Shomari, are asked to help uncover the baffling code that the evil Dr. G has sent out to several people who are judges for the science fair, they visit various geniuses and learn the secrets of coding. Beautiful illustrations help one imagine every detail of what happens in the book. It is extremely descriptive. The reader will find it hard to put the book down until the end. This book would be most enjoyed by 11-13 year olds. When one of many coding processes was explained, it was confusing and required re-reading a few times in order to gain understanding. Don’t let this stop you, however, from reading The Cryptic Case of the Coded Fair. It will definitely end up on your shelf of favorites!