So recently in PLP we’ve been working on a WWII unit. We’ve been going through all the main battles, leading towards our final project, a website. Although that’s not what this post is about. During spring break we were tasked to read 1 of 3 WWII books. We had the choice of Code Name Verity, Unbroken, or All The Light We Can Not See. I chose to read Code Name Verity. Once we got back to school we started looking at some professional book reviews on The New York Times. We were then tasked to write our own books reviews on the book we read. Therefore here is my book review on Code Name Verity:

To start of the book Code Name Verity we get to see Julie’s perspective. Julie is a British spy that has gone by many different names, as a spy would. Her code name is Verity. She had a very high-privileged upbringing. Due to this she earned herself the nickname of Queenie. Every different name she has, acts differently. As she states herself Queenie is “given to fits of madness such as stealing malt whisky from the RAF officers’ mess”. Julie was always a very smart kid that enjoyed learning about history. Julie also has a good sense of humour.

The book starts off with Julie in prisoned by the German Nazi Gestapo. She is in Ormaie, France which has been conquered and ruled by the Nazis. To get her clothes back she has to give up valuable information about the British Army. Although it seems the mission is a failure at this point, it actually might not be.

Throughout the first half of the book we get Julie’s perspective. For the other, half we get Julie’s best friend Maddie’s perspective. In the first half of the book, we are told that Maddie is most likely dead. This is because of the plane crash that got Julie in this mess. However, we find out right as the perspective changes that she is in fact alive. The whole perspective switch halfway through the book is at first a bit confusing, but you soon realize what’s going on.

If you didn’t get it by now, this is a book about spies. It’s not just a spy novel though. This is because the book starts off with the spy already caught. As she has to explain to us exactly what happened. Code Name Verity has won many awards since its release in 2012. It won a Printz Honor Medal for being one of the best young adult novels released in the United States. It also won the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel in 2013, and also the Golden Kite Award for Fiction.

The story also has a lot of perseverance. Julie’s entire story is about her perseverance to escape Ormaie. While captured by Gestapo, Julie pretends to be a wireless operator who had parachuted down in civilian clothes to not attract attention. However, Julie seemed to last a little bit too long to actually be a wireless operator as she quotes “It is six weeks today since I landed here. I suppose that’s quite a good innings for a wireless operator, though my success at staying alive for so long would carry more weight if I’d actually managed to set up a radio before I was caught. Now I really am living on borrowed time. Not much more to tell”.

The other main character in the story is Maddie or ”Kitty Hawk”. Maddie is a pilot and best friend of Julie. Maddie’s personality is one of someone who just constantly wants to be in the air flying. Although as she says herself she was the “Watson to her friend’s giddy Sherlock Holmes”. Stating that she was always the side role to Julie. But she was completely okay with that, as that’s just who she was. She turns out to have a significant role to the end of the story to do with a friend’s death.

In my opinion, this was a very well written, powerful novel. At some points, the timeline or perspective can be a tad bit confusing. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the book though. The book isn’t funny enough to be considered comedy, however, Julie’s humour really lightens up the book. Even though the book is set during World War 2, the perspective the book is written in makes it seem very relatable. As if you were a spy or a pilot during the war. If you have the time, I would definitely recommend reading this book.