* "Highly recommended for all libraries, especially where her previous titles have flown off the shelves."-School Library Journal , starred reviewPRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY "For me, Code Name Verity is the best of both worlds: an exciting, well-researched masterpiece of historical fiction with a contemporary sensibility....It brought me to tears to realize that I'll never be able to read it again for the first time. That is how powerful a story this is."-Richie's Picks PRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY "The word crossover appears many times on publisher information sheets, but this is the real deal. An incredibly assured debut novel, full of convincing detail, heart-stopping emotion and tension. I have high hopes for Code Name Verity ."-The Bookseller PRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY "It has been a while since I was so captivated by a character in YA fiction Code Name Verity is one of those rare things: an exciting and affecting female adventure story."-The Guardian PRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY "A fiendishly plotted mind game of a novel, the kind you have to read twice."-The New York Times PRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY "Maddie and Verity's extraordinary bravery is reflected in frank narrative as they both fight against time and a horrific, powerful enemy...The themes of hope, friendship, and determination even in the most impossible situations are relevant to all readers."-VOYA PRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY "The unforgettable Code Name Verity played with my mind, and then it ripped out my heart."-Nancy Werlin, New York Times best-selling author PRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY "I closed this book feeling I'd met real people I'd never forget. Code Name Verity 's characters don't just stick with me-they haunt me. I just can't recommend this book enough."-Maggie Stiefvater, author of the New York Times best-selling Shiver trilogy, The Scorpio Races & Books of Faerie PRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY "This astonishing tale of friendship and truth will take wing and soar into your heart."-Laurie Halse Anderson, New York Times best-selling author of Speak , Fever 1793 and Wintergirls PRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY * "If you pick up this book, it will be some time before you put your dog-eared, tear-stained copy back down."-Booklist (starred review)PRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY *"[A] taut, riveting thriller. Readers will be left gasping for the finish, desperate to know how it ends."-School Library Journal (starred review)PRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY *"This novel positively soars."-The Horn Book (starred review)PRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY *"[An] innovative spy tale built to be savored."-Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)PRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY * "A carefully researched, precisely written tour de force; unforgettable and wrenching."-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)PRAISE FOR ROSE UNDER FIRE "[T]he author manages the neat trick of both conveying an enormous amount of historical information while also providing a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat plot peopled with vivid, imperfect and believable characters."-RT Book Reviews PRAISE FOR ROSE UNDER FIRE "[A]n impressive story of wartime female solidarity."-The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books PRAISE FOR ROSE UNDER FIRE "The horror of the camp, with its medical experimentation on Polish women called Rabbits is ably captured. Yet, along with the misery, Wein also reveals the humanity that can surface, even in the worst of circumstances."-Booklist PRAISE FOR ROSE UNDER FIRE "Wein's second World War II adventure novel - the first, "Code Name Verity," was highly praised last year - captures poignantly the fragility of hope and the balm forgiveness offers."-The New York Times PRAISE FOR ROSE UNDER FIRE " Rose Under Fire' is bound to soar into the promised land of young adult books read by actual adults-and deservedly so, because Wein's unself-consciously important story is timeless, ageless and triumphant."-The Los Angeles Times PRAISE FOR ROSE UNDER FIRE * "At once heartbreaking and hopeful, Rose Under Fire will stay with readers long after they have finished the last page."-VOYA , stared review "Wein does again what she did so beautifully in Code Name Verity (2012) and Rose Under Fire (2013): She plaits together the historical record, her passion for flying and ferociously vivid characters to create a heartbreaking adventure that grounds readers in the moment even as geopolitical complexity threatens to knock them off their feet. . . . Unforgettable."-Kirkus Reviews PRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY *"A riveting and often brutal tale of WWII action and espionage with a powerful friendship at its core. [an] expertly crafted adventure."-Publishers Weekly , starred review * "Like Em and Teo's tangled history, Ethiopia's is an intricate crosshatch of tradition, progress, conflict, and rich heritage, and Wein gracefully pilots both piercing stories, highlighting the unique circumstances of Ethiopia in the 1930s and the ubiquitous experience of two teens trying to find their places in the world."-Booklist , starred reviewPRAISE FOR CODE NAME VERITY Accolades 2013 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book 2013 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Top Ten 2013 Edgars Award Nominee New York Times best seller New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of 2012Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2012Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2012School Library Journal 's Best Books of the Year 2012The Horn Book Magazine 's Best Books of 2012Booklist Books for Youth Editors' Choice: 2012 Library Journal's Best YA Books for Adults BookPage Best Children's Books of 2012The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbons 2012 Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2012 Young Adult Novels You'll Never Outgrow -part of National Public Radio's Best Books of 2012 series A BookBrowse 2012 Favorite 2012 Cybils Award finalistPRAISE FOR ROSE UNDER FIRE * "In plot and character this story is consistently involving, a great, page-turning read; just as impressive is how subtly Wein brings a respectful, critical intelligence to her subject."-The Horn Book , starred reviewPRAISE FOR ROSE UNDER FIRE * "Readers will connect with Rose and be moved by her struggle to go forward, find her wings again, and fly."-School Library Journal , starred reviewPRAISE FOR ROSE UNDER FIRE * "[A]lthough the story's action follows [Code Name Verity ]'s, it has its own, equally incandescent integrity. Rich in detail, from the small kindnesses of fellow prisoners to harrowing scenes of escape and the Nazi Doctors' Trial in Nuremburg, at the core of this novel is the resilience of human nature and the power of friendship and hope."-Kirkus Reviews , starred review
Wein's novel is full of wonderful surprises. She does not shrink from confronting the large, difficult themes that are an integral part of the historical moment she is recounting: racism, war, colonialism, slavery, citizenship and religion. That she manages to handle all of these themes with such grace is admirable…Wein has always known how to spin a plotand in Black Dove White Raven she does not disappoint. But most important, she knows how to create characters the reader cares about…Wein takes us on quite a flight in Black Dove White Raven …we hold our breaths and soar.
The New York Times Book Review - Benjamin Alire Sáenz
★ 01/26/2015 Wein returns to Africa, the setting of her Lion Hunters series, with protagonists who share an avocation with those in her award-winning novels Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire. Delia and Rhoda are stunt pilots, barnstorming the American countryside in the 1920s, each with a child in tow. When Delia is killed during an air show, Rhoda commits to fulfilling their dream of raising Teo, whose father was Ethiopian, in a place where he won’t be discriminated against because of his skin color. Rhoda resettles Teo and her own daughter, Emilia, at an Ethiopian coffee plantation just as Haile Selassie takes power—and as Mussolini’s troops prepare for an invasion. The novel, which opens with the knowledge that Teo is missing, is constructed as a series of letters, school essays, flight logs, and excerpts of fantasy stories written by Teo and Emilia, all of which Emilia is sending to Selassie in a plea for help. While the conceit tests credulity, Wein brings this fascinating period in history to life with several well-engineered plot twists, lots of high-flying, nail-biting tension, and meticulous research. Ages 12–up. Agent: Ginger Clark, Curtis Brown. (Mar.)
★ 03/01/2015 Gr 8 Up—In her latest World War II-era novel, Wein returns to themes of aviation and the enduring bonds of platonic love and friendship. Best friends Rhoda, a white Quaker, and African American Delia were "barnstorming" pilots, a team who performed in air shows across the United States as White Raven and Black Dove, their children, Emilia and Teo, in tow. When Delia is killed in a plane crash, Rhoda commits to fulfilling Delia's dream for Teo—to live in a land where he wouldn't be judged by the color of his skin—and moves them all to Ethiopia, where Teo's father was born. Life on the coffee farm at Tazma Meda is wonderful, especially since Rhoda is teaching the children to fly, but rumors of invasion by Italy become reality, and bureaucratic snafus mean that the family can't leave the country. Then the war becomes even more personal when all young men of Ethiopian heritage are conscripted. Wein continues to present multidimensional characters within her effortless prose. VERDICT Highly recommended for all libraries, especially where her previous titles have flown off the shelves.—Stephanie Klose, School Library Journal
2015-01-10 Wein returns to Ethiopia, the setting of her Arthurian adventures, for a high-flying novel about the 1935 Italian invasion.Emilia Menotti and Teodros Dupré share no DNA, but they are otherwise as close as siblings could be. Their aviator mothers had performed together as barnstormers Black Dove and White Raven until a bird strike killed Teo's mother as the two women were preparing to immigrate to Ethiopia, where Teo's father had come from. Alone, Momma raises them on a remote coffee cooperative, an idyll cut short as tensions rise between the independent African nation and Italy, whose colonies border it. Wein does again what she did so beautifully in Code Name Verity (2012) and Rose Under Fire (2013): She plaits together the historical record, her passion for flying and ferociously vivid characters to create a heartbreaking adventure that grounds readers in the moment even as geopolitical complexity threatens to knock them off their feet. The story is pieced together from a combination of documents; Emmy's opening begging Haile Selassie for help is followed by a collection of the two teens' writings, including childhood stories, themes written for the cooperative school and long, diarylike flight logs. This device does not create as seamless a narrative as in her previous two books, and Emmy's and Teo's voices are often hard to tell apart, but Wein's forceful prose will carry readers past any sense of contrivance. Unforgettable. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)