Best Friends Forever: Book Club Questions for Code Name Verity

9 hours ago

3 min read

Bicycles next to a stone wall, planes flying overhead

Age: YA (14+)

Genre: Historical Fiction

Quick Review of Code Name Verity

If your book club likes World War II and sad books, this YA historical fiction is right up your alley. It’s not only sad, though—taut and thrilling, the book features a captured teenage Scottish spy who’s writing her confession for the Gestapo in exchange for extra time to live. Even if you’re a bit cold-hearted like I am, this story will move you to tears. I’ve read my fair share of WWII stories and sometimes think, Not another one. But trust me—this one deserves your attention.

ALERT! Spoilers ahead!

There are typically a few spoilers in my discussion questions, but because this book is thriller-esque with major twists, move ahead at your own risk!

Code Name Verity Book Club Questions

Maddie and Julie are from very different walks of life, and as Julie points out, would never have met in peacetime. Why was it critical to the story to have the two main characters be from such different worlds? Has an extreme circumstance ever brought you an unexpected friendship?
Julie and Maddie both refer back to their experience flying with the green sun multiple times. Why? What does this image express about the story?
Julie says, “It’s like being in love, discovering your best friend.” What made Maddie and Julie work as best friends? What did they accomplish that they couldn’t have if they hadn’t been best friends?
Discuss the Aerodrome Drop-Off Principle and count the times in the story that it came into play. How have you seen this principle in real life?
Why do you think the author included the scene where Maddie visits Craig Castle and meets the Craig Castle Irregulars? What does it add to the story?
It becomes apparent later in the book that some of Julie’s interrogators had mixed feelings about their actions. Does this change anything about how you see them—why or why not? In a book that isn’t shy about the devastating effects of torture, why do you think the author chose to hint at the humanity of the torturers?
Did you anticipate any of the twists before they were revealed (that Maddie was still alive, that Julie wasn’t actually revealing anything to the Nazis, that Julie had been an interrogator, that Julie was leaving clues in her record to enable others to carry out her mission)? If so, what tipped you off? If not, how did you feel when you realized?
Julie feels dirty about her work because she is directly tricking people into giving up information, while by contrast, Maddie’s work of flying planes seems clean and wholesome. Do you agree with Julie? Or do you agree with Maddie that they share equal culpability based on the end result of their contributions to the war effort?
Maddie confesses to having been jealous of Julie at times, with her fancy education, ease with men, and glamorous title. But none of it matters anymore, with Julie being tortured by the Gestapo. Have you ever been jealous of someone and then learned something about their life that made you realize you weren’t jealous at all?
A few times through the book, Julie ponders her last words, and when it comes time, she uses them. What do you think “Kiss me, Hardy,” meant to Julie? What would you want your last words to be?