Recommended Reads: Code Name Verity

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Ages: High school – will likely appeal more to girls at first blush, though boys will be intrigued once they get past the fact that both protagonists are female

Awards: Listed as a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, and winner of both the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel and the Golden Kite Honor.

Plot: We’ll just come out and say it: this synopsis isn’t going to be satisfying. That’s because it is critical to give as little as possible about the plot of Code Name Verity away. So what to say? It seems safe to reveal that this is a novel about friendship, more specifically the friendship that blooms between a Scottish girl and an English girl who meet while both are serving Britain during World War II. The Scot is a spy and her best friend is a pilot, both pressed into incredible acts of bravery almost daily in the fight against the Nazi forces. The surprises just keep coming in this book. There is heartbreak, anguish, and cruelty, and there is also humor, warmth, and love. We really can’t give anything else away. Sorry. You’ll just have to trust us, or, failing that, the book’s numerous accolades (see above).

Our Take: Know that this is a heavy book. Some of the scenes are downright harrowing, as it’s difficult to watch characters you love – and love them you will – enduring the ruthless cruelty of war. A further argument that this book is not for everyone is the complexity of its format and plot; the deviously clever surprises that will delight proficient readers will stump those who are less able, making this book a frustrating, rather than breath-taking, mission. Let it be breath-taking. Don’t give it to students until they’ve got the emotional and literary wherewithal to handle it. It’s worth the wait, and they’ll thank you for holding out. Both protagonists are developed admirably, but Julie, the irrepressible Scottish spy, is particularly top-notch, the kind of character that will cause major devastation when you come up for air after a stint of reading and realize that, because she is fictional, you’ll never get to meet her. Parents may wish to read this book before, or alongside, their teenagers, both because it will be fun to discuss the unexpected twists and turns, and simply because it is wonderful.

Adult Content: The wartime setting of this book makes for some gruesome references to violence, but they’re not described in too much detail.

Recommended Reads: Between Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys      

Grades: 7 and up

Awards: William C. Morris Debut Award Finalist

Plot: Between Shades of Gray tells the story of a fictional character’s experiences during Stalin’s little-acknowledged attempt to “cleanse” the Baltic region of anti-Soviet populations he considered undesirable. The book opens on a night in 1941 when fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and her younger brother are forced from their home by armed Soviet soldiers and deported. Lina’s gentle, thoughtful father is considered by the Soviets to be a dangerous intellectual, and his family is guilty by association. Lina eventually learns that her father was separately arrested earlier that day and has been sent to a prison camp. Meanwhile, she is loaded into a filthy, crowded train car with her mother and brother and sent to Siberia, where they are forced to fight for their lives in a work camp. The family and other deportees endure starvation, illness, freezing temperatures, cruel guards, and backbreaking labor. Lina struggles to remain hopeful in the face of the very harshest adversity, buoyed by her mother’s incredible love and strength. 

Adult Content: None, though the book relates a vicious period in history and violence is described in the book (not gratuitously). It should be noted that the themes in this book are very stark and some young readers may find them excessively troubling.

Our Take: This book is incredibly harrowing. Although most sixth graders should be able to read the sentences without difficulty, wrapping their heads around the content may not come as easily. We recommend that parents and teachers hand this book only to students who demonstrate a good measure of emotional maturity. Author Sepetys is the child of a Lithuanian refugee, and her burning need to communicate to the world what her father’s motherland endured during the Russian invasion is almost tangible throughout the book. Sepetys did a great deal of research before writing Between Shades of Gray, much of which involved interviewing survivors about their experiences. She shares information about her process and experiences in the back of the book, which makes for a fascinating endnote. Few adults know much about this particularly bleak facet of World War II, which is startling when one considers the scope of Stalin’s destruction; it is estimated that more than six million people were affected by these forced migrations from the Baltics and that over a million people died as a result. Between Shades of Gray will teach readers about this dark chapter of history, and about the indomitable nature of the human spirit and the power of love.

Recommended Reads: Seeds of America Trilogy

We continue our Recommended Reads feature, where we highlight books for children and young adults, with the Seeds of America trilogy of historical novels by Laurie Halse Anderson, published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

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Seeds of America by Laurie Halse Anderson

Chains - (originally published in 2008)
Forge - (originally published in 2010)
Ashes - (due to be released in book format March 1, 2013)

Awards: Chains was a National Book Award finalist and winner of the Scott O’Dell Historical Fiction prize. Forge was named a Junior Library Guild Selection, a Kirkus Best Book for Teens, and a YALSA 2011 Best Book for Young Adults. It also appeared on the Horn Book Fanfare List of the best books of 2010.

Plot(s): Isabel is introduced in Chains as an orphaned slave girl in New England left to care for her mentally handicapped younger sister Ruth. Although her mistress swore to free Isabel when she died, documentation of this fact is difficult to track down after the old lady’s death and Isabel and Ruth are sold to a family in New York. Here, Isabel meets Curzon, slave of a Patriot master, who persuades Isabel to supply the rebel forces with damning political information about her cruel Tory masters in exchange for her freedom. Alas, the would-be Americans care as little for the fate of a slave girl as do her masters, and despite the information she provides, Isabel finds that she must act for herself if she ever wants to be free. But Curzon, who has fought in the first few battles of the Revolutionary War in his master’s place, is dying of illness and starvation in a British jail, and Isabel decides she can’t leave him behind. She stages an ingenious and daring escape, and the book ends as both set foot on the shore of New Jersey, free at last.

Unfortunately, freedom was not that simple for escaped slaves. In Forge, the narrative is taken over by Curzon, who reports that Isabel has flown the coop in search of Ruth and he is on his own. Under the guise of a free man, he joins the Patriot army yet again, in exchange for food and pay. Things are going, if not smoothly, at least somewhat tolerably for Curzon until his captain announces that the troop’s next move is to head for a winter camp, a place called Valley Forge. Curzon endures the blistering cold and aching supply shortages with his fellow soldiers until he runs unexpectedly into his former master and is pressed into servitude again. The only positive outcome of his re-enslavement is his reunion with Isabel, who has also been recaptured and forced to work for the same man. This time, it’s Curzon who, with the help of his friends in the army, arranges a successful escape for the two friends. Ashes, the final installment of the series, promises to continue the story of these two protagonists.

Adult Themes: Slavery and war are gruesome topics, and it is to Anderson’s credit that she does not shy away from some of the uglier aspects of life for the people who actually lived during Isabel and Curzon’s fictional existence. While the violence and cruelty are never gratuitous, particularly sensitive readers may want to read these with an understanding adult who can help them grapple with some of the darker chapters in United States history. 

Our Take: Is there anything better than a good work of historical fiction? Yes, if it’s one of a three-part series and you know you have two more novels to enjoy! Isabel and Curzon are so three-dimensional that even history-averse readers will find themselves fascinated by Anderson’s rendering of their world. In Forge in particular, the irony of a country fighting for a freedom that it denies to its slaves is fully explored, setting the stage for stimulating critical thought and discussion. Anderson begins each chapter of each book with a real quotation from a concurrent primary source that echoes the chapter’s themes. Additionally, extensive sections found in the back of both books explain which characters were fictional and which were not, the meanings of authentic words from the period which appear in the text, and other interesting information. Seeds of America showcases the very best kind of historical fiction: the kind that makes historical events feel relevant to readers more than 200 years later.