Code Name Verity

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The subject matter and some of the content of this book make it a book for 8th graders and above, but it is definitely a must read for that demographic.  The story is of friends, Julie and Maddie, who meet during WWII as they volunteer to serve their countries.  Julie has been trained as a spy for the French resistance, and Maddie is a pilot who works to carry military passengers between British Airfields.  The story begins with Julie. She has been captured by the Gestapo, and we find out she has been tortured.  She has agreed to give the Nazi's the information they want, so that she can have her clothes.  As she writes the information, she tells the story of her friendship with Maddie, tying in the information she assumes the enemy wants to know.  The second half of the book is Maddie's side of the story, including how she finds out that Julie is being captured and tortured.  It is a wonderful story of a deep friendship, but would be an excellent companion book for units on WWII.



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Bomb

Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Perfect non-fiction book for YA.  Sheinkin managed to make it read like a good spy novel.  It was easy to get engaged in reading about the Manhattan Project and Oppenheimer's (and others)development of the atomic bomb.  Although there were far too many people involved to keep them all straight, it still was easy to read and very engaging.  This will make a perfect non-fiction pairing with WWII novels in the Common Core. 



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Liar and Spy

Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Although a different story than her Newbery winner,When You Reach Me, Stead's book also has believable characters and delightful twists and turns that keep you reading.  The story's main character, Georges, a seventh grader, has just moved into an apartment with his out of work architect father.  His mother works as a nurse, and is now working double shifts at the hospital to make up for the loss.  School is not much better.  His best friend has ditched him to sit at the cool table, and others delight in bullying him.  When a kid at the new apartment puts up a sign for "spy club," Georges responds.  He makes a new friend, Safer, who has all sorts of ideas about spying and who in the building needs to be spied on.  Safer tests the limits of Georges friendship as Georges makes realizations of his own about friendship.  Perfect for the new middle school 6-8 next year.



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Blue Sword

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Robin McKinley is definitely one of the best YA writers.  It is little wonder she won the Newbery Medal for the Hero and the Crown, and the Newbery Honor for the Blue Sword.  I used to wonder why so many of my 7th graders were drawn to this book years ago, and now I now why.  It is an excellent story about a young girl named Harry Crewe, who is sent to Istan to join her older brother after her father dies.  Harry feels a kinship to the stark landscape of Istan, so different from the green hills of her home.  When the King of Damar comes to ask for help from the people of Istan in fighting their common enemy, magical things start to happen.  And, this is the beauty of McKinley, she blends the magical so seamlessly with the ordinary happenings of the characters that it is easy to suspend disbelief. Thoroughly enjoyable for middle schoolers and old lady librarians.



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Starters

Starters by Lissa Price

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I have to say, this book was a delightful surprise.  At first I thought that it was just another dystopian spin-off.  I listened to Legend by Marie Lu not too long ago, and thought this was way too similar in the beginning.  The main character, a girl instead of the boy who begins Marie Lu's novel, is left to take care of her brother after a genocide spore has wiped out everyone who was not vaccinated.  The brother is sick, just like in Legend.  I thought it another "here we go again," dystopian novel as she struggles to take care of her brother in a hostile world.  Her parents have been killed by the spore. All that was true, but Price took the novel in a different direction when Callie decides she can support her brother by having her body rented by "enders", (the elderly), who through technology can inhabit the body of the young and live as a young person again. The company who arranges this service is called Prime Destinations, run by a mysterious old man.  Callie's financial problems look as if they will be solved as she completes without difficulty her first rental.  But on a subsequent rental, the  neurochip implanted in her brain malfunctions, and she finds herself in the life of the rich woman renting her.  The novel then twists and turns and resolves in a surprise ending. A sequel follows, but the novel can stand on its own. Great read for middle school and up.



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Second Chance Summer

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Taylor Edwards returns with her family to the family cabin in the Poconos for what promises to be one last summer with her dad.  Her father has stage four pancreatic cancer and has just a few months to live.  She hasn't been to the cabin for 5 years and is afraid of facing her old best friend and boyfriend because of the way her relationships ended with them so long ago. The summer progresses and her father's health declines, but family relationships and old friendships are renewed.  The novel captures the internal conflict of Taylor as she deals with extreme sadness and happiness at the same time. Great summer read,especially for middle and high school girls.  



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The Horrors of Andersonville: Life and Death inside a Civil War Prison

The Horrors of Andersonville: Life and Death Inside a Civil War Prison by Catherine Gourley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Although some of the reviews recommended this book for those as young as 5th grade, I think it is more appropriate for 8th grade and above.  It is a little too text heavy for our younger readers today.  The book would be a great addition to a Civil War unit, however, even if only using some of the primary sources quoted in the book.  The story of Andersonville is a sad, sad story.  The book illustrates the terrible conditions found in the prison: men living in squalor, with not enough food to survive.  There is no doubt that they were treated poorly.  The prison was designed to house 10,000 Yankee prisoners, but ended up housing 32,000 during August of 1864.  That figure alone is an indication of the impossibility of meeting the needs of so many men.  Nearly 1/3 of the men confined to Andersonville died.  After the war ended, the North wanted to blame someone.  The one singled out for blame was Henry Wirz, who was put in charge of the prison in 1864. Although he pleaded for help for the prisoners many times, there was no help provided. Circumstances of the war in the South left little in the way of help to provide, so Wirz paid the price by being convicted and hanged.  Again, a sad, sad story that will enlighten students on this period of history.



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