Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Top ten teen books featuring flashbacks

Lenore Appelhans has been blogging about books at Presenting Lenore since 2008. She is the author of the Memory Chronicles, which includes Level 2 and the forthcoming Level 3, and the forthcoming picture book Chick-o-Saurus Rex (under the name Lenore Jennewein) with her husband, illustrator Daniel Jennewein.

One of Appelhans's ten favorite teen books that deal with remembering, forgetting and flashbacks, as told to the Guardian:
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

When British spy Verity is captured by the Nazis in occupied France, she is forced to write down her secrets. She chooses to write about her best friend Maddie, a RAF pilot who flew the mission with her, pouring out her heart by flashing back to their joint history and detailing her current predicament. Not a moment goes by when we don't fear for Verity's life, but little do her interrogators know just how skilled Verity is in her spycraft. A thrilling, heartbreaking gem.
Read about the other titles on Appelhans's list.

Code Name Verity also appears on Lydia Syson's list of ten of the best historical novels for young readers.

--Marshal Zeringue