Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Wein, E. (2012). Code name verity. New York, NY: Hyperion.

This is the story of two girls, Maddie and Queenie, they meet through the Royal Air Force in war-torn England, WWII. They go on adventures together and Maddie is instantaneously impressed of Queenie’s spontaneous abilities.

Here’s where it gets truly interesting. Julie’s narrative, ends in the plane as Maddie is taking Julie to her next assignment in France. Julie is a Special Operations Executive agent who works undercover as German interrogator Eva Seiler. Their plane is fired upon and Julie has to parachute out before Maddie makes a crash landing. After this, the second part of this story starts, Maddie’s highly dangerous notes reveal the dangers on her escape after her landing. The worst has already happened as the plane is broken, Maddie really isn’t supposed to be there, and even if she was, she and Julie have switched papers by mistake.

Julie comes into France with a new secret identity, but upon realizing the paper switch, never gives it up so Maddie can safely assume it. The eleven codes she sold out, earning the disrespect and hatred of every other captive at the hotel prison save each other’s lives, though for the duration of their time in France, they are only together once.

Maddie is able to assume Julie’s coded identity as she lives with a French family in the Resistance, whose son/brother is one of the men torturing Julie, Maddie is not aware of this fact as she is desperately searching for her. Unfortunately, Julie dies, but her death was inevitably.

A story with themes of friendship, determination, and hope. Their friendship is portrayed as true friendship. As the reader, I loved the idea of how the girls were true to one another that they would literally give their lives for one another. Great example is when Julie doesn’t give up her identity so Maddie could assume it, since they accidentally switched their papers. This act of kindness relates the message that she was determined to help Maddie survive even if it meant putting her life at risk.

I have to admit, this was a very challenging read for me as the topic of War doesn’t grasp my attention. I had to read and re-read and re-visit pages in order to understand it. In the end, I liked it, though it concludes a sad ending, but it’s one of those inevitably endings. I believe this story could be used by a high school history teacher, perhaps to share with the students what similar prisoners of war experience when captured. This book could interest high school students ages 14 and up. If you like this story, perhaps you could read Rose Under Fire as the companion of Code Name Verity. This book consists of 339 pages.