Guidelines for General Reading Responses
Each response is worth 30 points.
(some poetry titles carry extra credit)
You will be writing general reading responses for these books:
 Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity
 One poetry title
Prepare a three-part essay of at least 600 words but absolutely not more than 900 words. You are
NOT providing me with a summary of the book you have read. You are writing a personal response with some critical analysis.
In the first part , think about your favorite part/scene of the novel. Was it a particular scene?
The tone? Humor? The plot? A certain character? Please be specific. You need to analyze that scene, not merely describe it.
This section should remind you a little of a book review.
In the second part , you will provide details about how the book made you feel and what thoughts it made you have . Make good use of descriptive language to relate to specific events and/or characters from the book. Please try to relate the book to your personal experiences and perhaps some of the ideas we have discussed in class.
Finally, for the third part, given what we have read in our required readings and our discussions in class, consider whether or not this novel would appeal to today's teens. If so, why and to which group? Think about where the novel fits into the YA spectrum. Middle school?
High school? Boys? Girls? Reluctant Readers? Only fans of certain genre? Above all else, you must convince me that you have read more than the jacket cover. Again, think of this section as if it were a book review.
Saturday, August 9: The responses for Code Name Verity and a poetry title. Please submit these responses as one file.
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
This is an amazing story told through the filter of friendship and love, between Julie Beaufort-
Stuart and Margaret Brodatt. The story is like a recipe, it was good with just Julie’s side and then made better by seeing through the eyes of Margaret. There was no real ‘favorite’ scene for me. It was the little stories and memories and clues that I really enjoyed. I guess if made to pick

a scene it would be the bridge scene. I needed for Julie to either escape or die. The thoughts of what lay in her near future had my stomach in knots. So when, Margaret says,
“I burst into, loud, gulping sobs, bawling like a baby.”
Her face-Julie’s face-her face suddenly lit up like a sunrise. Joy and relief and hope all there at once, and she instantly lovely again, herself, beautiful .
She heard me (p. 285).
This is the only time in the story where Margaret and Julie are actually in each other’s presence.
You are full of love and despair and clinging to hope that they will get out of this mess. Julie yells out,
“KISS ME, HARDY! KISS ME QUICK!”
Turned her face away from me to make it easier.
And I shot her (p. 285).
Shivers, I did not see that coming. Ok, I said that I needed her to die, but that was not what I wanted, I really thought/hoped they would make it. Then I remembered in class someone saying that one will die. Like a tons of brick, it hits. Waves of tears, feeling the strong love of friendship and protecting it to the very end. I was so happy when Julie recognizes her best mate and she asks her to end it and like the amazing friend she is, Margaret does not flinch.
This novel reminded me of the strong bond of love in friendship. For me, this means, not the love and friendship I have with my husband. Not even the love and friendships I have with other female friends. This strong bond I can only remember from when I was young and my best friend and I would spend hours together and share and talk – before boys, before families. All the hours. Natural, beautiful and making the simplest activities rich and memorable. Nothing special to anyone else, but magically because you have shared it with your best friend!
I would have never picked up this novel, because even if it was described as a “girl spy novel,” nope just not interested in the topic. But the method used to tell this story, I really

enjoyed. First, through the eyes of one friend and then through the eyes of the other. I had never read a book that used this technique before. The setting was the war, but the story was all love and friendship. All the twists and turns, like the great-auntie and her subtle statement, “We share a terrible burden, cherie
.” So subtle and then it hits you, so powerful. Absolutely a great read, and one I will recommend.
I would recommend this to avid teen readers and those who like history, espionage and female protagonists. The writing is beautiful and the pace appropriate, not slow, but not fast either. It may be difficult to get some readers (teen and adults, alike) to persevere, to include the reluctant reader. Of course, those who do will be truly rewarded with a heart-breaking story about a great friendship. If I have to stick an age on it, then due to wanting the reader to have the maturity to comprehend and learn more regarding World War II, I would recommend this for readers 12 and up. The book itself holds nothing that younger audiences could not understand
(i.e. ages 10 or 11); however, due to the horrors of war, this could cause issue and create fear.
The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle
The Surrender Tree, a novel-in-verse of the Cuban struggle for Independence. My favorite character in The Surrender Tree is Rosa la Bayamesa, the Child-Witch, the Healer. I love how she is shrouded with a sense of the mystical because she knows the land and plants around her to heal. Due to her abilities to nurture and make medicines from the plants, she is sought out by both sides of the conflict. My favorite part of the story is when Rosa and her husband, Jose, are in hiding, and along with several injured people. Rosa takes a jar of fireflies out of the makeshift structure and her husband comments on how the wounded, if they are able, want to leave the tent to watch Rosa and the fireflies, while is seems that everything that lives in

the jungle wants to make its way into the tent. This sense made me smile and laugh at how those who the tent was for wanted out and those the tent was meant to keep out wanted and were getting in. Perhaps, it reminded me of camping, or of living in Panama. Of being outdoors, immersed in it and what that feels like. I mean, when you are completely surrounded by nature and it is hot and moist and quietly full of sound and smell. And if you have ever felt completely relaxed or been with someone who is, it is truly memorable. They move and see differently. It is the strongest feelings of agape I have experienced. Perhaps, that is it.
I can say that if history would have been taught through poetry I reckon I would have really enjoyed it and gotten a great deal more from it. I was surprised at the end when the United
States pushed out Spain, that I was still sadden by the fact that Cuba was still not free and wondered if Cubans would ever experience the freedom that I do.
Loved the setting because the sparse language allowed so much room for my memories of Panama to be injected into the story. This story was made almost a sensory experience for me due to those memories. Having my cultural filter doubt that people can move that quietly in the landscape and yet having the memory of how quiet the native people would move in the jungle.
Twenty and thirty people moving with little noise and at a good clip. The climbing of the trees and living in the caves.
That said, it was a harsh and cruel time and that was not lost on me. Sylvia, a young woman of 14, who loses her mother and two baby brother during The War of Independence at the reconcentration camps, made the loss of life, quite tangible. Although, a totally fictional character, she was the only character that personally experienced loss due to the conflicts. Rosa is mysterious, knowledgeable and caring, and wants only to assist others, and although she is

surrounded by death, she seems untouched by it, stoic. It is through Sylvia, that an emotional connection is made to the text.
I would recommend this book to readers 12 years old and older. This is due to the description of the dismemberment of a cimarron and the cutting off of ears to demonstrate that a pursued slave was dead and payment for the ear needed to be made. These are brutal and again, as I mentioned with Code Name Verity, just not an aspect of war to be explored until the young adult can comprehend and cope with these types of realizations. I would recommend it to those who enjoy history, poetry and those with interests in Cuban culture. This novel-in-verse, may suit some reluctant readers, if they have interest in the specific subjects it covers, such as: independence, Cuba, war, Rosa la Bayamesa, and healing with plants. It would be a good book to introduce the reluctant reader to this type of expression…verse.