Mitty Blake has always lived a rather carefree life. He is interested in just two things: listening to music and Olivia, a girl in his advanced science class. But listening to his iPod during science class won't help Mitty to keep his science grade up. And if Mitty doesn't get an upcoming term paper turned in he will be dropped from the class, which will undoubtedly derail his budding romance with Olivia.
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Review of "Code Orange" by Caroline B. Cooney
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116 replies so far. What are your thoughts?
ooh, a book i've not read! I have read this author before and enjoyed her so will have to keep my eyes out for this one. It sounds great
Caroline B. Cooney is a great author, and I think I have reviews of several of her books posted here on Inkweaver Review.
You should definitely read "Code Orange" if you haven't yet.
It is first rate.
Thanks for commenting.
Nathan
this book sucks balls it has a weak storyline and the characters suck. why would mitty change from being a city wonderer and become a genius that wants to read books and do homework. MAKES NO SENSE
I think that your question is answered fairly completely in the story itself. Mitty isn't really interested that much in his project, but he wants to get a good grade so that he can stay in the same advanced class as his brainy girlfriend. Then when he is exposed to small pox he gets really interested in the project because he realizes that if he has caught this deadly disease he will probably die a messy and extremely painful and gruesome death.
Nathan
To Anonymous: The book actually has quite a good storyline. Mitty becomes interested and never became a brainiac. He said he would become one if God would let him live..but it was more of a plea not a dynamic change. The only reason he did his report in teh first place was to keep his spot in class with his "girlfriend" which is a typical stereotype. To me, it makes perfect sense..Great book.
Thanks for the meaningful comment Anonymous. Mr. "This book sucks" probably never even read the story and therefore didn't know about the critical ingredients that you mentioned.
This was amazing. I'm a student myself and students and adults alike will enjoy it. What pleased me was that it had suspense, history, romance, and comedy. It is stable and a great read.
Anonymous - You must have read this book, but I doubt you have a good sense of direction. I'm 11 and I understood it fine. Read it again when you're older, it may make more sense. It actually dosen't "suck", you just have to be able to understand certain point of views and other things.
Thanks for the comments. "Code Orange" does have great "suspense, history, romance, and comedy." Caroline Cooney always does a great job of mixing her story elements together, and that is one fact that I really appreciate about her writing style.
Nathan
Okay i couldnt help but commenent on this book :).... IT was terrible i couldnt keep with it and at the beggining it had an okay detailed plot but the end lacked STORY LINE it went by fast with not much detail and there is no way for anyone to relate to this. NO THEME. ohh wait i forgot "dont be lazy it leads to bad things, but then that leads you to being brave and courages" do you really want kids to get that type of a theme out of a book?
I have to agree that the end of "Code Orange" does go by fast, but I don't think that it lacks storyline. As for you interpretation of the book's message that certainly is interesting, and not at all what I got from it.
Thank you for commenting.
this book was a really good bookkkkkk
this book was ok
it didn't totally lack a theme but it didnt have much of one. it went by really fast tho which is good because i read it for summer reading and i wanted to get the actual work of the summer overwith. it only took me a week to read it but it would've taken more if it weren't for two 3 hour plane rides and 4 hours in a car going back and forth to the airport. i dont think i would recomend it to anybody tho cuz it didnt really have any suspense in it the way other books do, for example twilight, new moon, breaking dawn and eclipse (my four favorite books), it really surprised me that it wasnt all that good tho because i am a huge fan of caroline b cooney.
I certainly am sorry that you didn't enjoy "Code Orange" that much. Personally, I feel that it has a reasonable amount of suspense given that it is a realistic fiction story as opposed to a fantasy story like "Twilight" in which the author can build much higher suspense due to the increased separation from our world.
Thank you for commenting.
I am being forced to read this book and I WANT TO KILL MYSELF IT'S SO BORING. First of all, his name is Mitty. woah real tough. And it's just so boring and pointless. What idiot would touch diseased scabs in the first place. This whole book is about this stupid Mitty who touches a scab. Woah. How interesting. No, not really.
Well, I'm certainly sorry that you feel that way.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Code Orange was given to me as a summer assignment.At first I thought it was boring but then it got more interesting.It was a pretty good book.
Yeah, when you have to read a book over the summer it seems boring compared to other activities. But I agree that "Code Orange" is a pretty good book, and Caroline Cooney did a great job writing it.
Thanks for commenting.
the book was just ok. i had to read it for summer reading and i would definetly say it was a guys book. im a girl and it didnt keep my attention at all but i have a friend whose a guy and he thought it was pretty good for a book...we both hate reading.
I would have to agree that "Code Orange" would probably appeal to males more than to females. Caroline B. Cooney's "The Face of the Milk Cartoon" is more for girls that "Code Orange."
I would definitely recommend it, even if you hate reading.
Thanks for commenting.
do you know where i can find reveiws for this book??
This is a review of "Code Orange." If you want more reviews try a Google search for "review of Code Orange by Caroline B. Cooney."
the book was good. i have to do a report on it but i cant figure out what mitty and derek lok like. i am confused. the only thing i did not like about the book was that coroline b. cooney only described olivia physically, but only described Mitty in his mindset. but it did not "suck" anonymous so i would suggest it to someone who doesn't have to do a report on it and someone who likes infaciouse disesase.
I don't remember how the characters were described physically. I believe that Caroline B. Coon usually mixes the character descriptions into the text. This means that there isn't one place where she enumerates all of the character's appearance traits, but rather you have to read clues throughout the text.
Anyway, thanks for commenting.
question spoiler:
Do Mitty and Olivia date still at the end although Olivia says, "you Missed me?"
Mitty and Olivia's relationship is not changed by the ordeal. If anything, it seems as if it may have gotten stronger by the end of the story.
The guy that asked that question: thank you, I was confused because she said, "you missed me." So I wasn't sure whether it was over or not. Once again thanks.
No problem. Thanks for asking a question. ;)
The question guy again lol. Anyway, I'm trying to find themes of Code Orange and I've thought of a few, clarify them if you think I'm correct or incorrect. Themes: Heroism, Don't Make Assumptions, and patriotism. If you know a better theme please tell me. Bye.
I would say that heroism is definitely the theme of the book. The point seems to be Caroline B. Cooney taking normal, easy-going Mitty, and putting him under pressure.
Mitty rises to the occasion as a "hero". Patriotism is perhaps a side theme, but I don't think that "Don't Make Assumptions" has any place. Instead Mitty's assumption caused him to make the right choice to play it safe.
Hm I see, so what would you suppose is a main theme besides heroism I need two more for a project but I can't really think about two more. Any suggestions? Is terrorism a theme? lol I'm not even sure.
Okay sorry for adding on but I'm reading a rubric to my project and it is asking what this novel asks about people in general. I mean what kind of bullsh*t is that (excuse me)Code Orange talks about people and if I would have to guess I'd say it says that people are just as clueless as the next. =/ not sure though. Ideas?
Hello again, The Question Guy. :)
I'd say that as far as the themes go the main theme is heroism but those other two themes you mentioned will do just fine if you have to list three.
Perhaps as far as what the novel asks, it asks how people respond under stress, how terrorists go to extremes to achieve their goals.
In the future please post your questions about Code Orange at:
Review of Code Orange by Caroline B. Cooney
I'm currently moving Inkweaver Review over to a new site, so feel free to come check out the review at its new location. ;)
Hey NathanKP thank you once again for helping me.
This is the best book i've ever read. i hate reading, but this caught my attention, and it was very suspenceful throughout the entire book. The storyline was great, and there was stuff for everyone- comedy, romance, and adventure. five star book. (:
what is the theme i dont understand it
but that is the only part of the book I dont understand I love the rest of it !!!! :)
I love the use of creative fake sources in this book, and how Mitty is such an interesting character. I have never actually thought, "Hmm. Well, maybe I should go get started on my homework," and actually doing it. It takes real consentration to make myself do it, and it seems Mitty should do the same. I literally loled when Mitty thought, "Crap, now he thinks I'm some fantastic college kid." I also thought it interesting that even though you are in first person point of view you don't know that
(WARNING: SPOILER AHEAD)
Mitty was faking sick so he could fight the others.
To Anonymous ("im a girl and it didnt keep my attention at all" person) I am a twelve-year-old girl and I found it very interesting. Two thumbs up and an extra high five! :D
-Kira
Clarification- Mitty was faking sick to fight the foreigner terrorists.
-Kira
This book is horribly written. It lacks a coherent/ costant theme and is missing key context.
i hate this book
I just read this book for school. It was half way ok. I enjoyed the characters but i couldn't dig really deep into it, plus i hate being forced to read something. It is almost painful, but I have read worse.
This Was The Best Book;)
I LOVED THIS BOOK IT WAS THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ!!!!!!!! ;)
awsome book
An OK book, kept me reading, I read this for literacy circles and A.R. for school, although the author hurried up the ending which was a disappointment.
what would be a good songs that relates to code orange?
What would be a good song/songs that relate to code orange??
I LOVED "Code Orange". The beginning was a little slow but grew on me, and by the middle I could NOT put it down. I had to read it for a class seminar, and wow. Gosh, this is the best book I've had to read for school.
I love this book, and i HATE books, so that saying something..!! but i would so read this one again!!
This book confused me very much. i have to do questions on it and I'm stuck. I'm a girl and i don't get Mitty. Do you no a character analysis for Mitty? Thankssomuch(:
BEASTLY BOOK!(;
THIS BOOK WAS KOOL
what characters traits does mitty blake have?
and why does he have them? :O
The book is soooo amazing that even i read it twice just for the fun of it
book is a good comparison to the epic poem Beowulf but overall it has a week story line and as a third grader i could have read it... i give it a 3 out of 10
i chose this book to do a book report on it well i just finished it an i have a question what gave you an idea to write this book an IT WAS A AWSOME BOOK
hey does anyone know the physical discription of Mitty?
I didn't like this book very much. I think it sucked at some points. My reasons for not liking it are not like "Mr. This Book Sucks", I don't like the class history. So reading about history crap like it told about in this book was boring to me. And the fact no one died is also boring, him not having smallpox was obvious to me. I'm more for messed up, or crazy books. They amuse me more.
this is the stupidest book ever
this book is not a good book by any means. sure it has a plot and builds on certain characters...SO WHAT! a 12 year old kid has to do the same thing on standardized tests! several things are wrong here one why would mitty sniff the scabs! he isnt an idiot hes just lazy so why would he do something that dumb. plus not to mention the beginning of this book is godawful BORING! NO PLOT! there is no point to this book the only good parts (and thats a strech) are the last chapters even then it doesnt have any sort of suspense. this book was clearly written for children at a LOOOOOOWWW reading comprehension level. im sorry if that statement offends any adults who read and enjoyed the book thats your opinion or whatever but seriously im a sophomore in high school and i thought this book was ridiculously stupid
Code Orange is interesting so far but it doesnt seem like the best book in the world. my friend is reading the face in the milk cartoon and said that it was a great book. so in my opinion Caroline B. Cooney is a great author.
I came across this page and I was astonished by the opinions of high schoolers and/or middle schoolers. I'm, in fact, in 8th grade and I believe the book is very very propitious. My teacher assigned this book to my class two weeks ago. I missed the first week of school so, I was behind. My teacher told me to read to chapter 10. Yesterday, I took the book home with me and finished the entire thing! It was impossible for me to put the book down because I was so intrigued by the thing. I believe the book could have many themes. And the story line was commendable. The only thing I was not so content with was the end. It was sort of weak and fast. But I recommend anyone who loves books, to read this! I'm highly impressed.
what is the theme?????
how does he change from the begining of the book to the end?? please help me
is this told in third person????
good book :)
what the heck is the theme of this stupid book!!!!!
THIS BOOK SUCKS AND THE PERSON WHO SAID THIS BOOK SUCKS BALLS IS SOOOOOO RIGHT I HATE THIS BOOK SO BAD IT'S AWFULL I NEVER WANNA BE ASIGHNED THIS BOOK EVER AGAIN I WUD NEVER HAD READ IT IF IT WASNT FOR THIS DUMB SCIENCE CLASS THANKS ALOT MRS. COLANNINO! #Swaqq
and im sayin wuts the theme ^____^
What is the themeee ? and main settingg ?
Theme? Anyone?
this book is fricken amazeing i am really into it im doing it for a school activity and i love it
I really enjoyed the book Code Orange and am doing a report on it. I am not sure what the climax would be, can you help?
okay so im doing my summer reading assignment on this book and i need help finding the theme like what the meassage is about life does anybody know what it is?
i meant message
Can anyone tell me 1-3 charecteristic traits of Mitty that are better than what I came up with?
- easygoing
-brave
-carefree ?
I read this book and I hated it not because it had a bad storyline, the storyline was good, but because Mitty was so stupid in how he was thinking that he shouldn't alert the government and how he believed that they wouldn't know what to do. Also I really hated how he didn't have smallpox to begin with and he knew it for a while and instead lied to himself to make the terrorists believe he had it.
i hated the whole romance think it seemed like she just threw it in there for the sake of having some romance
I like how Mitty thought that going to the government would make things worst and that it was better to keep the fact that he had smallpox to himself. I mean really if anybody else was in that sitauition (sorry for the bad spelling) then they would tell someone. on a scale from 1 to 10 I would give it a 3.
Mitty:if I go to the government they would do ring vaccination and it wouldnt work because americans but humvees. That is why I think Mitty is dumb
I think it's interesting that someone actually did found smallpox scabs in medical textbooks and that is what gace Caroline the idea for this book
I am in an AP American Literature class and my teacher got into an argument with some of the students in the class over how good this book is. She then asked us to raise our hands if we didn't like it and then raise our hands if we did like it. Everyone hated it.
IT SUCKED SO HARD I THINK THAT EVERYONE ELSE LIKED IT NOT BECAUSE IT WAS GOOD BUT BECAUSE IT IS SO BASIC AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND BUT THAT DOESNT CHANGE THAT IT SUCKED AND HAD A TERRIBLE STORYLINE
I remember I read this when I was 10 and I thought it was the best book ever, now Im 14 and I realized that it is terrible
this is to the guy above me: isnt it funny how most of the people who like the book are between 10 and 12 and most of the people older than that hate it?
I loved this book until the end. the end was just terrible. my teacher said that she didnt like it either so in class shes going to have us write our own ending for it
I read this as my first summer reading book and I thought: wow are all my summer reading books going to be this bad? then I read "all quiet on the western front" and my literary summer was saved
I hope i never have to read a book this bad again
Mr.This book sucks balls I salute you
how can anyone not like this book it is soooooo good and i want to read again every time i finish it
The reason people do not like this book is because of its easy to understand yet weak storyline and because Mitty is a very stupid main character who makes this book seem ridiculous
SCREW YOU EVERYONE WHO SAID THAT HE DEOSNT HAVE SMALLPOX WAY TO NOT WARN SOMEONE THAT YOU POSTED A SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
SPOILER ALERT
There does that help?
BTW I agree with alot of people that this book sucks.
I thought this book was good up until he "got" smallpox
HA jokes on you he never got smallpox to begin with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do you seriously not know why I put got in quotations?
I thought it was pretty interesting. I read it in one day and couldn't put it down. Then again I couldn't really relate to Mitty but that was only a small problem.
How were terrorist who pretty much only had to use rubber gloves able to get to Mitty before the government(which had a few agencies know that he had smallpox)?
I like how Mitty killed 4 four people and didn't mind
I cried when my mom accidentally killed a squirrel and yet he is comfortable having killed 4 people
Wait, I think the same guy wrote like the past 20 comments. What a troll.
What makes you think that?
Someone spammed saying that the book was bad but it looks like the comments were removed
I need to know what symbolism was used in the story. I need three of them. Thanks!
hoorid
god it was so horrible i almost pulled my eyes out and threw them down the garbage chute
I'd throw the book down the garbage chute
this is horble but i am sorry good try maby try to be more creative beacuse the smallpox virus barly survived in medickall jars if they were put into an onvilope the virus would expire in 50 years and espeshally not 200
can someone tell me two appearance quotes of mitty blake from the story
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I had to read this in class with one of those cds. The book probably didnt suck as much as I think it did but when you have the same idiot making all the voices it just sucks. I mean he made Olivia sound like a really,really girly man. The way he read it just screwed it up for me.
I honestly don't understand what Mitty get sick of, is it where he out his face by the carbon monoxide?
The part with the terrorists was kinda hard to follow and mitty was an idiot to not seek medical attention. I like the story though.
I would like to know, what does Mitty Blake look like and what are his character traits? I don't quite know.....
I had to read this book for school, and I really enjoyed it! At first it was confusing,but towards it came together perfectly!
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