4.5 stars/This review will be posted on BookwormishMe.com

Gotta love books that delve into the mysteries of the mind. In this case, Arizona. A 17 year old brilliant but socially awkward young woman. Her dad had a tragic motorcycle accident while out exploring in Death Valley. Arizona hasn’t even come to terms with that when her mother goes missing.

Alone with her dog Mojo, Arizona must figure out what happened to her mom and how to get her home safely. The mystery will involve solving ciphers, reading history, and possibly learning to make some friends along the way.

This is a fabulously written novel. K.A. Merson has fashioned a story that is both mind-boggling and extremely riveting. Arizona is such a relatable character, in that she struggles to make friends or trust others. Her parents have striven to make her very self-sufficient, in that she can survive on her own, with her dog, in an Airstream trailer. Arizona rarely flinches at the challenges thrown to her in this process. She simply puts her head down and plows through any obstacle she faces.

Truly enjoyed this one immensely. I think there is a target audience for this, as Arizona is not your average teen. While it is a YA novel, as an adult, I think adults who gravitate toward puzzles, math, and mystery will enjoy it as well.

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17-year-old Arizona and her dog Mojo wait for her mother after a hike, but her mother never comes back. Returning to their camper, Arizona finds a threatening note and a cryptic message. With her father dead, Arizona must crack the code and get the kidnappers what they want in order to find her mother.

This had some real complex puzzles for Arizona for solve and that was really interesting to me. It's a fun mystery to solve on several levels and I was rooting for Arizona and Mojo the entire time. Young adult book but I feel like it would be good for anyone who enjoys mysteries and secret codes/puzzles.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Available May 13, 2025

The Language of the Birds is a puzzle-packed adventure perfect for middle school readers who enjoy cracking ciphers and exploring history through a fictional lens. The story follows Arizona, a 17-year-old autistic girl who’s more comfortable solving riddles than dealing with people. When her mom goes missing during a family trip, Arizona must use her intellect—and her bond with her loyal dog—to follow a trail of clues based in real history and literature to find her.

This novel blends emotional growth with mystery-solving and introduces young readers to historical facts and literary references in a creative way. It also features a neurodivergent protagonist, offering a powerful example of a teen using her unique strengths to navigate a challenging world.

While older readers might find the puzzles a bit tedious or even overwhelming, depending on their love of puzzles, or the character development light, younger audiences—especially those who enjoy escape rooms, brainteasers, or books like The Mysterious Benedict Society—will likely find this story both inspiring and fun. Great for classroom libraries or literature circles focused on mystery, resilience, or neurodiversity.

Thank you Netgalley & Ballantine Books for an eARC♥️♥️♥️

Okay, real talk? I picked this up expecting a fun puzzle adventure, but what I got was a story that crawled inside my head and refused to leave. You know that feeling when you meet a character who feels like they’ve been living in your brain rent-free? Arizona is that girl. She’s the kind of brilliantly weird teenager I wished I could be at 17—all sharp edges and sharper wit, more comfortable with ancient ciphers than pep rallies. 😎
The kidnapping plot hooked me immediately (seriously, chapter one had me gasping on my couch), but what kept me reading was how human everything felt. Arizona’s grief over her dad isn’t some glossy, dramatic monologue—it’s in the way she hears his voice when she solves a riddle, or how she angrily kicks the Airstream tire when she hits a dead end. And Mojo the dog? PERFECTION. Every hero needs a loyal sidekick, and this one comes with wagging tails and impeccable timing. 🤩
I’ll admit, I got way too invested in the puzzles. There’s a moment where Arizona decodes a message hidden in a 19th-century surveyor’s journal, and I actually yelled “OH COME ON” at my book because *how dare the author be this clever.* I may or may not have scribbled notes like a conspiracy theorist, convinced I could solve the next clue before she did. (Spoiler: I could not.)
But here’s the thing that wrecked me: this isn’t just about treasure or bad guys. It’s about a girl who’s spent her life feeling like a misfit suddenly realizing that her weirdness is her superpower. That scene where she tentatively befriends another history nerd in a dusty archive? I teared up. When she finally curses out the villains in Latin? I cheered.
Read it if you’ve ever felt like an outsider, if you love stories where the underdog outsmarts everyone, or if you just want to pretend you’re smart enough to crack a centuries-old code. (Pro tip: Keep Google open. You’ll need it.)

5/5 stars, plus an extra half-star for Mojo. Good dog. Best dog.❤️

I definitely loved Arizona and her isolated personality. I enjoyed the puzzles and the way her mind was able to solve them. I almost wish I had the physical book so that I could have tried to solve them too.

The writing was a bit choppy for me and the progression of the plot was just taking a bit long. At about 20% in I was still wondering a lot and it’s hard for me to enjoy a story when I don’t know where the plot is going. I still feel like I know nothing about why there are puzzles, what Arizona’s special ability is and why the kidnappers didn’t just kidnap her to solve the puzzles? It’s all been a bit muddy for me and I really wanted to like this book. Maybe I’m just not the target audience for this read, but the prose and writing style was nice, I just think this wasn’t for me.

Cryptograms, riddles and puzzles galore! This tale of 17 year old Arizona and her dog Mojo takes the reader on her quest to find her mom who was kidnapped from their Airstream. The kidnappers think Arizona knows something (which she does but she doesn't) and they also know that she's neurodivergent. They play to that but she snaps right back. This won't be for everyone- the puzzles- but I enjoyed it. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. This is meant to be YA but puzzle fans of all ages will find it rewarding.

The premise of the story is interesting and so is having a 17 year old girl and her dog be the protagonists.
What slowed the story down were all the poems, puzzles and extraneous matter. Poor title choice, too. Thanks to #NetGalley and #TheLanguageOfBirds for advanced digital copy.

Review posted to StoryGraph and Goodreads on 5/8/25. Review will be posted to Amazon on release date.

After the sudden death of her father, Arizona and her mother are on a roadtrip to spread his ashes when her mother disappears. Arizona soon finds herself solving puzzles to try to help free her mother from kidnappers which pushes her out of her comfort zone.

This book is basically what if National Treasure was about a vaguely neurodivergent 17 year old girl wandering around the west and ghost towns. The premise of this was really cool. I love secret societies. I love puzzles. I love solving mysteries. What didn’t work for me in this book was the fact that for every single cipher Arizona received we had to walk through every single step with her—even the ones that didn’t work—which led me to often zone out and skim through to get back to the more action parts of the story. I wanted to like this book more but ultimately with how cipher heavy this book is I found myself zoned out for large portions of it. If you love puzzles and seeing how folks solve those puzzles this is definitely the book for you.

Neurodivergent and genius Arizona must solve a series of puzzles left unfinished by her recently deceased father when her mother is taken. This book will appeal to those who enjoy neurodivergent representation and puzzles, though it didn’t really fit the category of “thriller” in my opinion. This book didn’t work for me—I wasn’t invested in the characters and the prose was rather dry.

This novel really lets the author’s freak flag fly, in the best way. It definitely is not a book for every reader – it will help if you enjoy puzzles, cryptology and maps, but even in you don’t, the story and the characters make the read worthwhile. The main character, Arizona, is a neurodivergent 17 year old who has just lost her father. As the book opens, she and her mother are headed to the ghost town of Bodie, California, to scatter her father’s ashes.

She and her mother and Arizona’s dog, Mojo, have arrived in the family Airstream, and when they get there, Arizona tells her mother she’d like some time to herself. When she goes to meet up with her mother at the appointed time, however, her mother is nowhere to be found. Hours later, Arizona at last reports her mother’s disappearance to a park ranger who tells her to wait at her campsite.

It soon becomes clear that her mother has been kidnapped, for reasons unknown, and Arizona must solve a series of extremely difficult puzzles to free her. This is a pretty simple set up but it’s far from a simple novel. The emotional underpinning of the novel is profound. As readers we begin to see the world through Arizona’s slightly different lens. We feel her pain at the loss of her beloved father, and her worry for her mother. She meets another young woman at her campsite, Lily, who becomes a friend despite the many walls Arizona throws up along the way. Arizona is terrified of friendship. She has a problem with trust.

We are also with Arizona’s mom as she attempts escape in any way she can. She is far less developed as a character, but as a narrative driver, she’s essential. The sweetness of Arizona’s relationship with Mojo as well as her growing friendship with Lily define this novel as much as the puzzles do.

Along the way, as I (a non puzzle person) skimmed through the puzzles, I did glean some interesting facts. Many of the puzzles are based on poems by Poe and Lewis Carroll, and the familiar lines are somewhat altered. Arizona’s quest ultimately leads her to Herbert Hoover and to the Hoover dam. I was newly impressed by Hoover, a president I never had thought much about, as well as the amazing engineering achievement that is the Hoover dam.

I also got a virtual tour of the southwest which is so vividly and lovingly described that I did indeed feel as though I had been there. It’s a different landscape than the one I live in and I appreciated the care and detail the author provides for the setting, especially in the ghost town of Bodie. I’m not sure I want to visit, but after reading this book, I’m not sure that I need to.

The believable development of Arizona’s character – she does not turn into a “normal” person, but she does find her strength – was for me, the highlight of this oddly moving novel. Even if you don’t like or understand or enjoy puzzles, I think this book remains an entreatingly worthy read. More neurodivergent characters are appearing on the pages of books, and I think that’s a wonderful development. We all have a place in this world and like Arizona, it may just take a little work to find it.

This was an intense one. You could feel the tension drip from the pages. Arizona is somewhat of a prodigy. She has excellent puzzle solving skills. After the death of her father, Arizona and her Mom go on a  road trip of sorts to spread the ashes of her father. When her mom fails to meet her at the time specified,  Arizona uses her brain to do a quick methodical search. When her search yields nothing, she turns to a park ranger for help. As it turns out, the "ranger" was an imposter. With her Mom kidnapped, Arizona must solve puzzles, riddles and ciphers to locate what the kidnappers desire. This book gave me Goonies, Indiana Jones, and National Treasure vibes. Arizona is one smart seventeen year old.

4 stars

Thank you to Ballentine / Random House for the ARC.

2.5 stars, rounded up. This YA thriller will be the right book for the right reader, I am sure. Unfortunately, I personally just wasn't that interested in this plot, which centers around an intelligent teenager solving a series of coded puzzles to rescue her mother from dangerous kidnappers. The codes and Arizona's working of them go on for pages and pages, along with lots of discussion of alchemy. I found myself skipping ahead to get back to the plot far too often. Arizona is prickly but easy to root for, and the story wraps up in a satisfying way. The author is definitely smart and crafts the story well, but ultimately this was a miss for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books for a digital review copy.

Do you like to solve puzzles and cryptography? You should enjoy The Language of the Birds - the debut novel from K. A. Merson.

"Arizona and her Mom have taken a roadtrip in the family Airstream after the sudden death of her father. At the ghost-town of Bodie, Arizona heads off alone with her dog, Mojo. When she returns there is no sign of her Mom and the Airstream is trashed. She gets a phone call from a man threatening to harm Arizona's mom unless she does exactly what he tells her. So now, Arizona works on breaking ciphers and codes to find whatever the man wants and get her mother back."

Arizona is a character with some social challenges. But she is good with puzzles and codes. And there is a lot of detail on code-breaking in this book - a lot of detail. After a couple of times I skimmed those parts. If code-breaking is your thing you will probably love that much detail. There did seem to be some big logic jumps to get to the right sequences and words. There's a definite "National Treasure" vibe especially when you see the direction that Merson takes. Merson does have a couple of desptions so you're never quite sure who the bad guys really are. And the ending is a little ambiguous but it works that way.

Interesting debut from Merson.

If you love a quirky neurodivergent female main character and puzzles to solve then this is the book for you! Fast paced mystery, enjoyable read.

Arizona is not your typical 17 year old. She loves puzzles and her parents and her dog Mojo. She hates fluorescent lights, too much noise, and being touched. For the last couple years she's been home-schooled and her family has spent the majority of their time traveling. The story begins a couple weeks after Arizona's father died in a motorcycle crash. She and her mother are devastated and take a trip to scatter his ashes in one of his favorite places. On the trip they get separated and Arizona's mom disappears.

A few hours later Arizona receives a call from a blocked number, the caller claims to have her mother and wants Arizona to solve some cryptic clues to get her back. Feeling like she has no choice, Arizona begins to solve clue after clue. When she realizes what kind of treasure the kidnappers are really after, she has to decide who to trust and what kind of power she's willing to discover for a group that would kidnap someone to get what they want.

The story line itself was intriguing and Arizona's character was believable. The treasure hunt had enough truth mixed in to be plausible as well. My problem with this book is that the puzzles were just too much. They were so complex that, instead of enjoying solving them with the characters, I found myself just jumping over them and the process to read Arizona's solutions. In truth, though, I'm not particularly mathematically inclined. If you love math, you might enjoy solving the ciphers with Arizona!

3 stars - it's a solid and believable mystery and characters with just a little too much complicated math for my taste.

Disclaimer: I received a free electronic copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

3.25 stars

Thank you Random House for an ARC!

I enjoyed this but it is very YA and just not realistic at all. I had to suspend my disbelief for a LOT that happens in this. Still a fun thriller with a lot of Da Vinci Code/National Treasure type of puzzle solving in order for the main character, Arizona, to save her mom.

I like a good mystery and even like a good puzzle occasionally. But I’m just not the right reader for this book. I think it will resonate with the right people.

I was interested to read this because I haven’t read a YA book in quite a while. I can see that this would be a fasting read for a teen. It starts with a mystery: her mother is missing. Through the use of puzzles and riddles, cryptography, too, the mystery is solved!

This will make the perfect Christmas gift for young adults on my list.

In the wake of her father's death, her mom goes missing. The average 17-year-old wouldn't know what to do, but Arizona is not your average teen. She's neurodivergent and adept at puzzles and ciphers, with a vast knowledge base and the ability to drive a truck towing an airstream camper and a motorcycle with a sidecar. Cool kid, indeed!

The Language of the Birds is a tricky book to categorize. The plot feels YA, but the exquisite vocabulary and detailed ciphers would be too challenging for the average YA reader. I have been reading the National Park Mystery series with my daughter, and this feels like the adult version of those books.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I did find myself skimming some of the cipher-breaking sections to get back to the plot. The author's masterful use of language was appreciated.

This may sound like a sweet nature book, but it starts with grief. Arizona and her mom are driving along the Sierra mountain range, spreading her father‘s ashes at all his favourite places. But when they stop at a ghost town and separate to process their emotions independently before deciding on a spot to put this bit of ashes, Mom vanishes. Very quickly we are in a tense and puzzling series of events.

None of this is to say that the language is not of birds and nature. Interwoven our descriptions of trees and an encounter with a raven, details of sky and land, even pink flamingos...the lawn kind, not the live kind.

Arizona is an interesting protagonist although she won't be to everyone's taste at first. At 17, she has been home-schooled, or rather trailer schooled, for the past three years, cruising up and down the Sierras with her parents. She’s coded neurodivergent, very focused on numbers, tangent sets, combining elements, and memorizing poems to calm herself when triggered. Which, under the circumstances in which she very soon finds herself, would be highly understandable.

Soon we are getting deep into ciphers and American history and Lewis Carroll/other classic literature quotes. The chapters alternate between Arizona, her mom, and occasionally the bad guys being cryptic just for the sake of being cryptic. I’m not a fan of this latter technique. It seems to be like cheating rather than intensifying the protagonist's feelings of suspense and danger.

After the first time, the descriptions of solving various ciphers go on a bit long. They only ever lead to the next complex clue, and it takes a long time to get any idea of where the quest is leading. Some readers will absolutely love the digressions into alchemy, philosophy, and other byways of thought and cartography; for others they'll be all distractions from the central action.

Meanwhile, however, Arizona - or AZ, as her first new friend calls her fondly - is proving herself competent at navigating the world with only her dog for company, and surprising herself (and pleasing this reader) by easing out of her discomfort zone around other people to the point where she can sometimes initiate conversations without panicking and freezing. Her growth beyond the early limits imposed by her neurodivergence and other 'conditions' is one of the chief charms of this book.

Thanks #NetGalley #TheLanguageOfBirds #KAMerson