Code Name Verity Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Invention of the Ballpoint Pen and our BookBrowse Review of Code Name Verity.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Why is SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden keeping "Verity" alive and imprisoned at the Château de Bordeaux? Why do you think he is willing to give her so much time to write her confession?
   


2. At the beginning of Code Name Verity, "Verity" starts her confessional story from Maddie's perspective rather than her own. Why? In "Kittyhawk," part two of the book, the author changes narrators from "Verity" to Maddie. Does this change your expectations of what's going to happen? Does having two narrators detract from the story or strengthen it? Why?
   


3. According to William Shakespeare (The Tempest), "misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows." Metaphorically speaking, how is this quote relevant to the friendship between Julie ("Verity") and Maddie?
   

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Hyperion Books for Children. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.