The Day the Crayons Quit/Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers

So there I was, at Children's Book World in Haverford, to hear Elizabeth Wein talk about her passion for World War II, her adventures in flying, and the thoughts she had while slicing an onion, which led her to the tremendous success we all know as Code Name Verity. (This is how the big stuff happens, folks. A long-time passion for a period in time, personal passion for a hobby like flight, and knife work. Also, slicing the onion must have made some sort of imprint on Elizabeth's storytelling sensibilities for, as she related last night, her books make many people cry, including Elizabeth herself).

I arrived early, because I love that place, but also because I was on the hunt for The Day the Crayons Quit, that new uber-bestselling picture book that my friend Michael Green of Philomel helped guide into existence.

People have been buzzing about this book since the BEA (and probably before that, but I wouldn't know, because I'm rarely in the know). My first trip to another bookstore earlier in the day had left me empty handed. But there I was, at Children's Book World, and there we were, the crayon book and me—just two copies left. One for the beautiful, age-appropriate family sitting on the step reading, and one for moi.

This adorable book is just what its title promises—a klatch of overused (except for Pink), big personality (let's leave White out of this), stripped down (I'm looking at you, Peach), niggling (spoiler alert: Yellow and Orange are at war), and negotiating (oh, Green, thank you for breaking type and defeating envy in favor of peace keeping) crayons that have decided to have a word or two with little Duncan, who finds a stack of letters in his waxy box.

I wrote "age appropriate" a few sentences ago, but don't think my old age stopped me. I bought a copy of this book for myself, because I do believe that nothing is more universal, and more endlessly appealing, than an excellent picture book.

This is an excellent picture book.

(Also, these books are going fast. Better get one for yourself real soon.)

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Code Name Verity/Elizabeth Wein: Reflections

Code Name Verity, a story about World War II, aviation, spying and the fierce loveliness of two best friends, will go down as one of this year's Big Young Adult Books.  The earliest reviews, insistent and fervent, made this clear.  "Fiendishly plotted," "unforgettable and wrenching," "heart-in-your-mouth adventure"—this book, agreed its readers, has it all.

While I had had my copy for quite some time, it wasn't until this weekend that I could sit and read.  Any author who commits to bringing history to life is going to catch my eye.  Any writer who recognizes that writing for teens is an opportunity to go wide, wild, and big has my favor.  Wein, a pilot herself and a folklorist, holds nothing back in this complex saga about a bigger-than-life, multiply code-named Scot who buys herself time in a Nazi torture chamber by confessing (Sheherazade style) the story of her resistance.  She's going to tell it all—every last detail.  She's going to charm her captors with the many adventures that have brought her here, to Nazi-occupied France, in the seeming-last weeks of her life.  Her tales are riddled with code—with place names, airplane names, revelations.  They're profoundly and perplexingly particular.  But mostly they're about the confessor's best friend, the pilot Maddie, and the many tangled lines of the two girl's adventures, the calculations and miscalculations that led straight to the torture chamber.

The Gestapo setting is grim.  The torture is palpable.  Planes will crash. Toes and fingers will vanish.  Somehow, however, the story—pluckish and adventurous, daring and bold—never moves at anything less than an upbeat tempo.  Even at the worst of times, Wein's characters are clever—infused with knowing, delightfully devious, so quick witted that I wanted to write "devilishly" quick witted, but no.  These girls aren't devilish at all.  These girls understand that the second best thing to do in the face of terror is to be bold. The first best thing is to remain utterly true to your very dearest friend, even if truth, which is to say verity, means contemplating the ultimate sacrifice.

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what I'm reading now

I woke at 4 this morning and had a choice to make:  with my corporate work suspended until Monday at 8 AM, how would I spend this sudden gust of unscheduled time?

Reading?

Writing?

I mean, let's face it:  I left my own Florentine novel in suspense at page 80—I left it, literally, mid-sentence, in a scene I never saw coming.  I left it several days ago, feels like weeks ago, feels like another era, and I don't know when I will get to it again.  I don't know if I'll remember what it was I imagined I was doing.

But.  There are four books I've been dying to read—four books that, if left unread, basically disqualify me to opine about the year in Children's/YA.  And I gotta opine.

Picture me reading this weekend, then, in the following order:

Code Name Verity (Elizabeth Wein)
Son (Lois Lowry)
Ask the Passengers (A.S. King)
Goblin Secrets (William Alexander)

My thoughts about Code Name Verity will be posted here tomorrow.

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