The Enigma of the Parisian Code by Katja Battaglia

“The Enigma of the Parisian Code” (Simone Edition for Schools) written by Ambassador Katja Battaglia, a Top 50 Finalist in 2023, is a children's book that values diversity.

The novel, an adventurous investigation of alchemical codes, encrypted secrets, and ancient myths, is specifically aimed at middle school students and young adult audiences.

No one is good at everything: a school that embraces diversity

At the heart of the novel is the absolute value of inclusion. The author, a middle school teacher for more than 20 years, carries a powerful message for every student: no one is good at everything, and school must be the place where every uniqueness is welcomed and valued.

With this book, the author explains that happiness is not the absence of problems, but the courage to face them without letting them get you down, and diversity, which we often consider a weakness, is a true superpower. The story delicately and courageously addresses the crucial issues of adolescence, addressing issues such as diversity, bullying, debt, and the impact of the disease within the family unit. Alongside social issues, the text addresses a very rare topic in children's fiction: family debt.

The plot: between mystery, alchemy and redemption.

Young Tony's life is a web of complex challenges: the family's debts, the harassment of bullying, the suffering from his grandmother's illness, and the dyslexia his mother refuses to accept. The turning point comes when best friend Alessandro discovers a mysterious manuscript.

From that moment begins a breathtaking adventure that winds between the alchemical secrets of Nicolas Flamel in Paris and the temple of Asclepius in Greece. In a race against time between cypher codes and plot twists, in a world that seems to be falling apart, Tony will undergo a profound maturation. He will understand that precisely what he considered an insurmountable obstacle represents, in reality, his greatest superpower for solving puzzles and that happiness is the strength to never give up in the face of difficulties.

The structure of Dan Brown and the soul of JK Rowling.

The novel's structure recalls Dan Brown and is based on logical-deductive puzzles, encrypted messages, and historical mysteries that keep the reader glued to the page.

The soul of the work is inspired by JK Rowling. Behind the adventure, in fact, lie the major issues of growth. As in Rowling's works, mystery becomes the key to addressing diversity, self-acceptance, and pain, transforming one's own frailties into tools of redemption and resilience.

A highly readable volume “three in one”, combining established Italian teaching practices with the most established international methodologies, in a synergy that exponentially multiplies student performance.

The structure of the work is composed of three parts:

1. The Novel: The Main Story.

2. The teaching apparatus: a complete and intuitive apparatus for reviewing Italian, ranging from exercises based on the INVALSI model, for language recovery, consolidation, and enhancement, to simple and intuitive Latin exercises, which do not presuppose knowledge of the ancient language and can be solved with logical-deductive reasoning. There are also Writing and Reading Workshops and classic writing workshops modelled after the new eighth-grade exam. There is no shortage of logic exercises based on solving anagrams or decoding cypher messages, developed from historical models such as Caesar's cryptosystem or Polybius' chessboard.  

3. Integrated Digital Teaching: ready-to-use interactive activities that foster inclusion, such as class blogs, graphic novels, and presentations, including a Debate focused on the historical and legendary figure of Nicolas Flamel.

To consult the detailed sheet of the novel, click on the link https://scuola.simone.it/libri/lenigma-del-codice-parigino/

For a preview of the book here.

How did the novel come about?

«The idea for this novel was born from a manuscript as mysterious as it was fascinating, which I searched for for more than fifteen years, following the indications taken from the writings of Pierre van der Bossche, a famous Belgian Jesuit who lived between the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. I have visited the oldest libraries in Europe for long periods. I was about to put an end to my research, when some clues convinced me to focus on Paris, the city of lights, but also of shadows, of mystery, of magic, to which is linked a legendary and compelling figure, that of Nicolas Flamel, scribe and copyist of the University of Paris, as well as a famous alchemist capable of creating the philosopher's stone, which turned metals into gold and produced the elixir of long life, or immortality. Precisely for this reason, it is said that his tomb did not contain his body and that, in the 14th and 15th centuries, he financed many constructions.

Every reading room seemed to whisper to me forgotten stories and codes to crack. It was in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France that I found the manuscript I had been looking for for years, betrayed in the first seventeen leaves of a decidedly precious codex that came from a Célestine convent in Paris.

No one is good at everything, and that's why I didn't want to create perfect characters, invincible heroes like Wonder Woman or Superman.

My protagonists were meant to be like Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: ordinary people, with fears, uncertainties and weaknesses, but capable of finding unexpected courage within themselves, of accomplishing great feats and of changing the course of history».