Code Name Verity (Review by Leighanne Massey)
Bibliography
Wein, Elizabeth. Code Name Verity. New York: Hyperion, 2012. ISBN 9781423152880
Plot Summary
Code Name Verity is about a secret spy named Queenie who gets captured by the Gestapo during WW2 after she parachutes from her best friend (Maddie's) airplane into Nazi-occupied France.
Critical Analysis
Code Name Verity details a Scottish spy named Queenie who is dropped in Nazi-occupied France with her best friend Maddie and detained by the Gestapo who immediately recognize her as a spy. In exchange for more time and her clothes, Queenie takes the easy way out giving codes and information about British aircraft, locations, and other identifying information. Buying herself time, she slowly releases the information by writing a novel centered around her best friend Maddie and their friendship. As the Gestapo and and SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer von Linden struggle with her "confessions," Maddie becomes more evasive and confrontational. It is at the end of the novel that Maddie's true intentions become clear and readers will be thinking about this book long after it has ended, wondering how they missed the real story.
The very first page when Queenie describes her captivity using the words, I AM A COWARD, readers will be hooked and wondering what will happen next to the young woman, fearing for her safety and hoping for her freedom until the very end. Wein carefully weaves details and historical accounts of interrogation practices that were used by Nazi's in this novel about two women who bravely served their country in WW2 by gathering information and learning to fly aircraft. Planes and bombers are described accurately from the 1940's as well as the landscapes of France and Britain although the town Queenie finds herself in is fictional. Wein offers an Author's Debriefing at the end of the story, detailing her research and reinforcing the fictional heroines and other aspects of the story, like when Maddie flew to France by herself which is not something that would have ordinarily been accomplished by a female pilot. Every detail is accounted right down to the fact that ball point pens had just been invented as they were used in the story. A Bibliography at the end of the Debriefing contains specific works about Air Transport Auxiliary, Women's Auxiliary Air Force, etc. Code Name Verity is a story that makes the reader think differently about WW2 and the limited contributions of women at the time.
The very first page when Queenie describes her captivity using the words, I AM A COWARD, readers will be hooked and wondering what will happen next to the young woman, fearing for her safety and hoping for her freedom until the very end. Wein carefully weaves details and historical accounts of interrogation practices that were used by Nazi's in this novel about two women who bravely served their country in WW2 by gathering information and learning to fly aircraft. Planes and bombers are described accurately from the 1940's as well as the landscapes of France and Britain although the town Queenie finds herself in is fictional. Wein offers an Author's Debriefing at the end of the story, detailing her research and reinforcing the fictional heroines and other aspects of the story, like when Maddie flew to France by herself which is not something that would have ordinarily been accomplished by a female pilot. Every detail is accounted right down to the fact that ball point pens had just been invented as they were used in the story. A Bibliography at the end of the Debriefing contains specific works about Air Transport Auxiliary, Women's Auxiliary Air Force, etc. Code Name Verity is a story that makes the reader think differently about WW2 and the limited contributions of women at the time.
Review Excerpt(s)
Michael L. Printz Honor Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature (2013)
YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Top Ten (2013)
Boston Globe Horn Book Award Honor (2012)
Starred Review from School Library Journal on 10/01/2015:
"A quick-witted British girl whose plane has crashed in Nazi-occupied France is forced by the Gestapo to confess to her country's war plans. Her writings detail her friendship with Maddie, the pilot who crashed the plane. A must for young adult collections, as is Wein's companion novel, Rose Under Fire, whose intelligence and emotional depth will appeal to adult readers as well. Pearl Cornioley's autobiography, Code Name Pauline, covers similar ground and can provide needed context to Wein's story."
Starred Review from Kirkus on 02/15/2012:
"Breaking away from Arthurian legends (The Winter Prince, 1993, etc.), Wein delivers a heartbreaking tale of friendship during World War II..."
Starred Review from Booklist on 05/01/2012:
"If you pick up this book, it will be some time before you put your dog-eared, tear-stained copy back down. Wein succeeds on three fronts: historical verisimilitude, gut-wrenching mystery, and a first-person voice of such confidence and flair that the protagonist might become a classic character-if only we knew what to call her."
YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Top Ten (2013)
Boston Globe Horn Book Award Honor (2012)
Starred Review from School Library Journal on 10/01/2015:
"A quick-witted British girl whose plane has crashed in Nazi-occupied France is forced by the Gestapo to confess to her country's war plans. Her writings detail her friendship with Maddie, the pilot who crashed the plane. A must for young adult collections, as is Wein's companion novel, Rose Under Fire, whose intelligence and emotional depth will appeal to adult readers as well. Pearl Cornioley's autobiography, Code Name Pauline, covers similar ground and can provide needed context to Wein's story."
Starred Review from Kirkus on 02/15/2012:
"Breaking away from Arthurian legends (The Winter Prince, 1993, etc.), Wein delivers a heartbreaking tale of friendship during World War II..."
Starred Review from Booklist on 05/01/2012:
"If you pick up this book, it will be some time before you put your dog-eared, tear-stained copy back down. Wein succeeds on three fronts: historical verisimilitude, gut-wrenching mystery, and a first-person voice of such confidence and flair that the protagonist might become a classic character-if only we knew what to call her."
Connections
Other Elizabeth Wein books to check out:
Other Elizabeth Wein books to check out:
- Wein, Elizabeth. Rose Under Fire. New York: Disney-Hyperion, 2014 (reprint edition)
- Wein, Elizabeth. Black Dove, White Raven. New York: Disney-Hyperion, 2016
- Wein, Elizabeth. The Winter Prince (The Lion Hunters Series Book 1). North Carolina: Baen, 1994
Code Name Verity would be a great way to begin a discussion on WW2 and the role women had in the war effort. It also contains identifying information on Nazi practices which could also be explored. Rose Under Fire is meant as a follow-up to Code Name Verity.
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