What a great adventure! I love Emma's love of puzzles and how she realizes she has a super power! I have already recommended this one to several people!

Thank you Alexandra Ott, W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for a copy of *The Wish Ring Cipher* in exchange for my honest review 📝📚

Publication date: February 03, 2026 🗓

My tween and I really enjoyed this book. It follows Emma as she learns to navigate her new normal after an autism diagnosis. After struggling at first, she finds a group of friends (the Codebreakers) at her new school and together they work together to solve the cipher mystery📝📚. Emma's character is so real and her story is heartfelt and inspiring. The mystery is done in a clever way and layered to make it really interesting to follow along. The different codes and ciphers are described along the way and presented in an engaging way that we really enjoyed. We are looking forward to more Codebreakers books!📚

I loved Alexandra Ott’s The Wish Ring Cipher (Codebreakers #1). It follows Emma, a newly diagnosed autistic girl, as she navigates a new school and the puzzles that unfold when popular classmate Nate draws her into the Codebreakers group.

Emma is intelligent, thoughtful, caring, and her love of codebreaking helps her reach out and connect to others which is one of my favourite aspects of the story. I believe readers will find her voice feels very relatable and genuine.

I think the puzzle elements are clear and well sequenced, making them feel very understandable even if the reader has never tackled a cipher before. I loved learning about the many different codes and ciphers, which the novel described and presented in an engaging, detailed, and vivid way throughout.

I read through the story quickly, feeling both Emma’s anxiety during awkward social moments and happiness as she finds her place among friends. I do feel that some of the friends could have had a little extra personal quirks or details shared that would have made them feel more relatable and authentic, but I still enjoyed their group a lot.

The entire novel is very well written and flows nicely. The plot unravels in multiple layers, packed with engaging mysteries and unanticipated aspects that had me always wanting to know what was going to happen next.
The ending comes a little suddenly, but it’s satisfying and leaves room for further adventures.

Overall, this is a heartfelt and intelligent novel for middle grade fans of mysteries, friendships, magic, and codebreaking. I can’t wait for the next one in this series!
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Emma was recently diagnosed with autism and her family has decided to move her to a different school to help her. She is excited to find other kids who also enjoy code breaking as she does. Little does she expect the code breaking to turn into a kidnapping and rescue mission!

I love that the main character is a girl with autism. This is a great book to help students both with and without autism see some of the struggles and better understand peers. There was a “magic” aspect towards the end that I didn’t expect, but I still enjoyed it and think kids will as well.

I love that this book will be in children’s hands soon. I love the truth that it shows, about how an autistic young lady feels dealing with interactions and trying to find friendship. I like the fact that the story is also engaging and will draw young readers in. Having magic and code decoding really is a lovely touch and kids will enjoy these aspects. Most importantly though this book will give a voice and beautiful representation to children who are on the spectrum.
Thank you to W.W. Norton & Company and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Another good adventure read about a group of kids trying to solve some serious codes, this time to help them find a hidden ring with magical properties.
Emma’s parents move her to a school that they feel will be better with her recent autism diagnosis, but she had trouble making friends before and now it seems impossible. But when a popular kid named Nate sees how amazingly good she is at solving puzzles, he invites her to join his Codebreakers club consisting of several other kids who are as crazy about solving things as she is.
The author wrote this book because she is autistic and felt books didn’t talk about people like her. And while not over the top on the subject, it does reveal what she and perhaps other autistic children feel around other kids. Whether you’re good at codes/puzzles or even if you aren’t (I’m not), this is still a really good read! I am also thinking there may be another code for this group to solve in the future 🤞

I picked up The Wish Ring Cipher because my middle grade reader loves mysteries and codes—but when I read the blurb, I started crying. My daughter was going to be able to see herself in this story. You see, she is also autistic.

Emma, the protagonist, has just learned about her autism diagnosis, while my daughter has always known hers. Even so, Emma’s journey reflects so much of what my daughter experiences: the overwhelm, the processing, the deep focus on special interests, and the quiet bravery it takes to navigate a world that doesn’t always understand. Representation matters deeply, and Alexandra Ott handles it with so much care and kindness.

Because of her diagnosis, Emma is moving to a new school, and the change leaves her feeling like a fish out of water. One day, while hiding in the library to escape overwhelming social interactions, she’s discovered by Nate—the most popular boy in school. He notices her working on a code and invites her to join his lunch group for a game involving ciphers. That small act of kindness opens the door to a much bigger mystery—one Nate has been struggling to solve for over a year. But Emma soon realizes that Nate isn’t telling the whole truth, and she must decide what the right thing to do really looks like.

I read this book in just two sittings. The story is engaging, heartfelt, and emotionally honest. I ached for Emma during moments when she wasn’t seen or supported—especially by adults who should have understood her better. The mystery itself is clever and layered, with fun puzzles and satisfying twists that kept me hooked until the very end.

This book is beautiful. It doesn’t try to represent every autistic experience—but it does beautifully capture the internal world, emotions, and strengths of an autistic child. I loved it so much that as soon as I finished, I pre-ordered a physical copy. This book will have a permanent place on our bookshelf, and I cannot wait to see where the rest of this series goes.