Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein tells the story of two young women, Maddie, a British pilot and Julie, a Scottish interrogator, during WWII. These two young women meet while stationed in England and become best friends. Maddie volunteers to fly Julie to France to complete a mission, but the plane is hit by anti-aircraft fire. Julie parachutes out and is captured by the Nazis. Maddie manages to crash-land the plane and is hidden by the French resistance. Told over the course of approximately six weeks, each girl tells her story through writing.

Would I recommend it?  How could I not? Code Name Verity is one of those books that is good until it becomes great. It will stick with you and haunt you. You will celebrate and you will cry. And the minute you’re done, you’ll want to read it all over again.

Things I liked about the book:

• Julie’s viewpoint takes up the first half of the book. She starts out confessing she is weak and has agreed to give up so many secrets for basic things like her clothes or a blanket to sleep under. Amazingly enough, she made me understand why she’s sold out her country to the Nazis.
• The friendship between the girls is real and believable. In this “white man’s world,” these two girls admire each other, respect each other, and are rather awed by each other’s particular talents despite differences in socioeconomic backgrounds. I can only hope my own daughter grows up to have friendships such as this.
• Loved the things Julie found to write on – hotel stationery, prescription pads, recipe cards, sheet music. I can only imagine what that stack looked like.
• Through Julie’s writing, I felt her slipping away, saw her letting go. So well written, so well done that when she cries out for help on the bridge, it is what has to happen.
• Julie’s family – Jamie, her mother, the boys, the great-aunt – wonderful.
• The Peter Pan references, so British, so perfect.
• Maddie’s part – I don’t want to say too much…Let’s leave it as what Maddie tells you will make you want to flip back and reread and laugh and cry and reread again and squeal, “Oh! Oh! Oh!” because it is simply brilliant. Together with Julie’s part, it is what makes this book great.
• Anna Engel! Loved her! Bit part, true, but she lives up to her translated name, Angel, and gives us some fantastic insight on Julie that made me smile.
• There is closure. It’s bittersweet, it’s teary, and thank goodness, it’s there.

 Things that distracted me:

• This one is all me – it’s similar to why I have issues with 3-D movies. I keep pulling the glasses down my nose to see what the screen looks like without them. In the book about half way through Julie’s part, an American radio personality comes to the hotel and interviews Julie. It’s totally believable and fits in the story but at that moment, I began to think, huh, something is going on and I started (pulling down the glasses) and looking for clues as to how Julie was going to make it out.
• Julie bounces between first and third person. She does explain why she writes in third person about herself at times and I have to admit, I had to consult that part a time or two until I got the hang of things.
• Maddie’s portion of the book isn’t quite as eventful as Julie’s so at times, I found myself wishing she’d get on with it. Of course, she did, quite often in the next paragraph so I felt guilty even thinking that in the first place.

I’d say 8^th grade on up due to the nature of the violence and understanding of the environment and time period.

For things to consider before handing this one to my kid, scroll down, but beware, spoiler alerts ahead.

On the inside cover of the book, is a list of accolades, 16 in all not counting the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature on the front. This is a book that deserves them all. It also deserves a spot on my bookshelf.

Things I would consider before handing this to my kid (SPOILER ALERT):

• This is set in 1943. Julie is captured by the Nazis and tortured. Prisoners are tortured in other rooms, one is decapitated in front of Julie. Concentration camps are referenced, and Julie is sentenced to a camp where she will be experimented on until she dies. One of the French resistance fighters is very touchy-feely with the women. Nazi soldiers shoot prisoners in the legs, in the elbows, in the head.   Julie asks Maddie to shoot her and Maddie does, killing her.