Code name Verity

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

Maddie is an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot and Julie who is a Special Operations Executive spy that goes by the code name of Verity.  They are best friends.  Maddie flies Verity to Nazi occupied France for a secret mission.  Then Maddie’s plane is hit and she is unable to land so Julie parachutes out then she is captured by the enemy.  Maddie survives the crash and is found by the Resistance Army.  Julie is interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo and then she finally agrees to write down everything that she knows.  She tells of her friendship with Maddie and everything that could be used by the Nazis is interwoven into her story. After Julie confesses, she is sentenced to a concentration camp.  Then it is Maddie’s turn to tell her story.  She finds out that Julie is alive and is being held as a prisoner.  Along with the Resistance, they plan to free Julie and some other prisoners.  During the rescue, things go wrong and Maddie finds Julie with a gun to her head.  She then realizes that Julie is asking her to shoot her which she does rather than dying a painful death by the enemy.  Maddie is given Julie’s papers and she reads that everything Julie gave them were lies except for the parts on their friendship.  It is then she knows that she must complete Julie’s mission and destroy the Gestapo Headquarters then return home safely. 

This is a great historical realistic fiction about war.  It should be read by junior high and high school aged students.  It has a lot of action and excitement but it also focuses on the importance of friendship.  It gives a realistic depiction of war through the eyes of Maddie and Julie, Code Name Verity.