Code Name Verity. Elizabeth Wein. 2012. Hyperion. 352 pages.
I am a coward. I wanted to be heroic and I pretended I was. I have always been good at pretending. I spent the first twelve years of my life playing at the Battle of Stirling Bridge with my five big brothers--and even though I am a girl, they let me be William Wallace, who is supposed to be one of our ancestors, because I did the most rousing battle speeches.
So many people have gushed about reviewed Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. And so many have just LOVED it and found it amazing. I have been meaning to read this one for a few months now, but, I personally found the novel difficult to get into. It just wasn't working for me...at all. I found the framework of the story to be frustrating and confusing. The jumping back and forth between first person and third person, etc. And the main character, the narrator, I found her difficult to connect with. But I really didn't want to return this one to the library unread...again. So I decided to read it no matter what. And after two hundred pages, this one finally started working for me. And by the end, it definitely worked for me. By the end, I could see why people did love it. But it took reading the whole novel--seeing the big picture--for me to be able to appreciate it.
Code Name Verity is about two women serving their country during World War II. One woman is a spy; the other woman is a pilot. One fateful night, the two are together in a plane over France. One woman is captured several days later, and interrogated. This novel is her "cooperation" with the enemy. Through this written account--an account where she both speaks directly to her captors and relates events of the past (these are written in third person omniscient), readers come to know both women...
Read Code Name Verity
If you are interested in World War II,
If you are interested in pilots and spies and secret operations
If you are interested in reading about strong, brave women
The Duckling Gets a Cookie. Mo Willems. 2012. Hyperion. 40 pages.
I really enjoyed this latest picture book starring Pigeon. As long as I remember that Pigeon is Pigeon and Piggie is Piggie, I really, really love it. The moment I start to compare my love for Pigeon with my LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, OBSESSIVE LOVE with Elephant and Piggie, I start to question how much I care for Mo Willems' other series. (For me, there's just no comparison.) I do think the Pigeon books have to grow on you. If this is your first and only introduction to Pigeon, well, you may not "get" it. And you may not understand why Pigeon is so Pigeon-y. He definitely has a quirky personality that just somehow fits him so well. So the books are best read in combination so that readers can get the full Pigeon experience. (This may not be the one to start with either.)
Anyway, in this adventure, Pigeon is OH-SO-JEALOUS that this cute little duckling (cute and little being my adjectives) has gotten a cookie--with NUTS--just by asking politely. Why doesn't Pigeon ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever get what he asks for?! Why?! He is the "asking-est" pigeon around. So why does the Duckling get a cookie?!
Anyway, readers soon learn the truth--or is it the truth?--the Duckling wanted to give this cookie to Pigeon.
I definitely thought this one was fun and playful. I do think that this one is best appreciated by those who already know Pigeon. But this could always be a good opportunity to introduce little ones to the whole series.
Read The Duckling Gets A Cookie
If you're a fan of Pigeon
If you're a fan of cookies--with or without nuts
If you're a fan of Mo Willems
If you're looking for playful, quirky picture books
Listen to My Trumpet. An Elephant & Piggie Book. Mo Willems. 2012. Hyperion. 64 pages.
Gerald! Sit! Sit! Sit! Do not move! I HAVE A TRUMPET!!! Do you want to listen to my trumpet?
I absolutely love and adore (in every way) Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books. I do. (Some people anticipate YA releases, for me, it is all about Mo.) I just love, love, love these two characters. I love Gerald, the elephant. I love Piggie, the pig. I love the way these two animals interact. I love the way their friendship is depicted. I love the humor, the emotion. I love the way the emotion is illustrated--the facial expressions, the body language. I just find this series of books for young readers to be practically perfect in every way. These books are just too much fun to be missed. So the newest release in the series is Listen to My Trumpet! It did not disappoint. I just loved it!!!
In this one, Piggie is oh-so-happy to share her "music" with Gerald. Is Gerald equally happy to hear his friend's "music"? Well, Gerald is tactful, I'd say. (An elephant (or a person) with less restraint might have said much, much more.) And I do like the fact that Gerald doesn't hesitate to be honest with his friend, all the while being thoughtful and considerate. Of course, there's a twist to this one--like so many others in this series--and I won't spoil it for you.
The illustrations are so much fun in this one!!! I mean the text is good; the text is funny. There is much to love about it. But the illustrations really steal the show in this one!!! I just LOVED, LOVED, LOVED all the illustrations of Piggie trying her best to play the trumpet. (For example, page 11 and 16). And I loved the illustrations of Gerald trying to listen to Piggie play her trumpet. (For example, page 20 and 21).
The Way We Fall. Megan Crewe. 2012. Hyperion. 320 pages.
Sept 2 Leo, It's about six hours since you left the island. The way things have been, I know you wouldn't have expected me to come to see you off, but I keep thinking about how you waved and waved from the dock five years ago, when I was leaving for Toronto.
The Way We Fall reminded me of Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It. Not that the catastrophe's are that similar. They're not. (I still haven't decided which is more devastating...) Perhaps it is the personal touch of the narrators that make them similar. Miranda writing a personal journal that might--one day--be shared with others; Kaelyn writing specifically to an ex-best-friend, Leo. (She wanted to be more than friends, he didn't. There was awkwardness, silence, and avoidance.)
So The Way We Fall is set on a small Canadian island. Kaelyn's father is a doctor, a specialist, whose expertise is about to become essential. For there is a virus, a very deadly virus, spreading through the island. Within a week or two the island will be under quarantine to keep people from spreading the virus to the mainland. The survival rate is almost non-existent, out of hundreds of cases, only a handful have survived. (I can't remember if it is five or eight--but it is a SMALL number.) Once people start showing the symptoms, that's it, that's the end of hope and the beginning of misery. Because in the first few days, victims KNOW what's happening, true, they forget by the time the illness has progressed, and by the time it reaches the final stages they're beyond caring, but still, it's NOT a pretty way to go. The dust jacket says it all, "it starts with an itch you just can't shake. Then comes a fever and a tickle in your throat. A few days later, you'll be blabbing your secrets and chatting with strangers like they're old friends. Three more, and the paranoid hallucinations kick in. And then you're dead."
So The Way We Fall is a the personal account of our young heroine, Kaelyn. Through her eyes we witness the best and worst of humanity--as the island's society collapses a bit. As some people in the community go out of control...
Read The Way We Fall
If you're a fan of survival stories like Life As We Knew It or Ashfall
If you're a fan of dystopias, this one is plague/virus driven
