This month, I will be discussing Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity, a 2013 USBBY Outstanding International Book for grades nine through twelve. The author, Wein, may sound familiar to you all, as I featured her other USBBY Outstanding International book, Rose Under Fire in a previous blog post.
Wein, E. (2013). Code Name Verity. New York, NY: Disney-Hyperion.
As you know, I read the later-published, companion novel, Rose Under Fire, before I decided to delve into Code Name Verity. I'm not sure why I chose to read the former first, but I wish I hadn't. The two books are so similar, yet so very different, and I just wish that I had experienced Code Name Verity before its counterpart. To divulge why I have come to this conclusion, I feel as though I must include a brief summary, retrieved from the author's website, of the novel in question:
When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she’s sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution. They'll get the truth out of her. But it won’t be what they expect.
As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from a merciless and ruthless enemy?
Harrowing and beautifully written, Code Name Verity is a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that reveals just how far true friends will go to save each other. The bondage of war will never be as strong as the bonds forged by the unforgettable friendship in this extraordinary tale of fortitude in the face of the ultimate evil.
I'm sure, by reading the summary, that you've noticed some very obvious differences found between the two books. They contrast one another with their plots and setting. The protagonists are captured by Nazis, but the outcomes are quite different in various ways. However, their interwoven similarities are so complex and beautiful, and, admittedly, were something I didn't quite realize when I began reading Code Name Verity. To be honest, it took me a while to read this book. I just couldn't get into it, you know? After completing the beautifully written Rose Under Fire, with all of its poetry and its hope and faith in humanity (things CNV certainly lacks during the first few "entries"), I didn't want to be immediately thrust into the dark world of Code Name Verity. Additionally, the strange narration style didn't motivate me at all to pick this book back up. To explain, Wein takes a familiar approach, the style of diary entries, but this particular narrator writes not from her own perspective--but from her best friends'. It's very confusing at first. I almost gave up on this work, but I am so, so glad that I didn't. This book was filled with such raw and deep emotion, and, once again, I was left in a state of shock, the good kind of shock, when finishing this book.
I would certainly recommend this book to readers of YA novels and beyond, but I must warn you, just as I did with Rose Under Fire: It is graphic. It will make you feel uncomfortable. It will make you think (about our world's past, about humanity, about friendship), but, hey, isn't that what all good literature is supposed to do--make you think? Don't let the narration style discourage you as it did me. You won't regret reading this book (and Rose Under Fire).
As you all may now know, I am a huge fan of this author's work, but I do believe that there are always questions that readers should consider while exploring a text. With this particular work, I think these questions should be addressed:
- Why do so many USBBY Outstanding International Books have a World War II setting? Does this choice of the author represent a universal theme or international issues?
- Again, I must ask: How is Code Name Verity a companion text for Rose Under Fire? What similarities do the two texts have? What differences? Did these similar characteristics aid in Code Name Verity's placement on USBBY's Outstanding International Book List?
- What topics, if any, are too graphic or possibly too upsetting to discuss in a classroom setting?
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