This companion to Wein's Printz Honor- and Edgar-winning Code Name Verity introduces Rose Justice, a Pennsylvania teenager and volunteer civilian pilot during WWII. Rose is ferrying a Spitfire back to England from France for the Royal Air Force when she is captured by Nazis and sent to Ravensbruck, the women's concentration camp. Designated a "skilled" worker, Rose is assigned to a factory; when she realizes that she's making bomb fuses, she stops working. Two brutal beatings later, she is reassigned to the high-security unit at the camp, where she is taken under the wing of the "Rabbits"--Polish political prisoners whose bodies have been horrifically abused by Nazi doctors for medical experimentation. Because Rose recounts her capture and imprisonment after the fact, in a journal, initially for cathartic purposes, her story doesn't have the same harrowing suspense of Code Name Verity, but it's no less intense and devastating. Eventually, Rose realizes the true purpose of the journal is to fulfill the promise she made to her Ravensbruck sisters: to tell the world what happened there. Wein excels at weaving research seamlessly into narrative and has crafted another indelible story about friendship borne out of unimaginable adversity. Ages 14-up. Agent: Ginger Clark, Curtis Brown. (Sept.)
After a daring attempt to intercept a flying bomb, a young American pilot ferrying planes during World War II is captured by the Nazis in this companion to Printz Honor–winning Code Name Verity (2012). After being brutally punished for her refusal to make fuses for flying bombs and having "more or less forgotten who [she] was," Rose is befriended by Polish "Rabbits," victims of horrific medical experimentation. She uses "counting-out rhymes" to preserve her sanity and as a way to memorize the names of the Rabbits. Rose's poetry, a panacea that's translated and passed through the camp, is at the heart of the story, revealing her growing understanding of what's happening around her. As the book progresses, Wein masterfully sets up a stark contrast between the innocent American teen's view of an untarnished world and the realities of the Holocaust, using slices of narrative from characters first encountered in the previous book. Recounting her six months in the Ravensbrück concentration camp through journal entries and poems, Rose honors her commitment to tell the world of the atrocities she witnessed. Readers who want more Code Name Verity should retool their expectations; although the story's action follows the earlier book'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. (Historical fiction. 14 & up)
Accolades
Schneider Family Book Award, Best Teen Book, 2014
Top Ten YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults, 2014
New York Times Notable Children's Books of 2013
Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2013
School Library Journal's Best Books of 2013
Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books of 2013
The Children's Book Review Best Young Adult Novels of 2013
NPR Best Books of 2013
BookPage Best Children's Books of 2013
Goodreads Choice for Best Young Adult Book of 2013 nominee
CILIP Carnegie Medal 2014 nominee
A Junior Library Guild Selection
2014 Tayshas List Selection
[London] Times Best Books of the Year
Costa Children's Book Award finalist
* "[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 excels at weaving research seamlessly into narrative and has crafted another indelible story about friendship borne out of unimaginable adversity."— Publishers Weekly, starred review
* "Readers will connect with Rose and be moved by her struggle to go forward, find her wings again, and fly."— School Library Journal, starred review
* "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 review
* "At once heartbreaking and hopeful, Rose Under Fire will stay with readers long after they have finished the last page."— VOYA, starred review
" 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
"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
"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
"[A]n impressive story of wartime female solidarity."— The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"[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 CODE NAME VERITY
*"A carefully researched, precisely written tour de force; unforgettable and wrenching."— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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
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
*"This novel positively soars."— The Horn Book (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
* "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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"A fiendishly plotted mind game of a novel, the kind you have to read twice."— The New York Times
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
"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
"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
★ 10/01/2013
Gr 8 Up—This companion novel to Wein's Code Name Verity (Hyperion, 2012) tells a very different World War II story, with a different pilot. Rose Justice, an American, has grown up flying, and when she is given the opportunity to ferry planes to support the war effort in England in 1944, she jumps at the chance. It is during one of her missions that she purposefully knocks an unmanned V-1 flying bomb out of the sky and is captured by Nazi airmen. Once on the ground, she is taken to the infamous women's concentration camp, Ravensbrück. She is first treated as a "skilled" worker, but once she realizes that her job will be to put together fuses for flying bombs, she refuses to do it, is brutally beaten, and is then sent to live with the political prisoners. Once she's taken under the wing of the Polish "Rabbits"-young women who suffered horrible medical "experiments" by Nazi doctors-she faces a constant struggle to survive. After a daring escape, she recounts her experience in a journal that was given to her by her friend, Maddie, the pilot from Code Name Verity, weaving together a story of unimaginable suffering, loss, but, eventually, hope. Throughout her experience, Rose writes and recites poetry, and it is through these poems, some heartbreaking, some defiant, that she finds her voice and is able to "tell the world" her story and those of the Rabbits. While this book is more introspective than its predecessor, it is no less harrowing and emotional. Readers will connect with Rose and be moved by her struggle to go forward, find her wings again, and fly.—Necia Blundy, formerly at Marlborough Public Library, MA
