Link to SCPL Kids! Home Page


POwerPAC
Online Catalog

Programs & Events

Links

Online Resources

Services

Information

Link to SCPL Home
Link to SCPL Genealogy Home

Reading Lists: WWII

Juvenile & Young Adult Fiction

For wartime books set in the USA, return here to our US World War II Fiction List. This list is very much "under construction." We're still adding plot summaries, publication dates, and numbers of pages.
Aaron, Chester. Gideon. 1982. 181p.
After losing family and friends, Gideon must bury religion and identity in order to survive the Warsaw ghetto and Treblinka concentration camp during World War II.
Ackerman, Karen. The Night Crossing.
It's hard to leave your home and friends, but the Nazis have invaded Clara's native Austria, and her Jewish family is no longer safe. Clara and her family take only what they can carry and travel by night to the Swiss border, where they hope to escape to freedom. Soldiers are everywhere, and it is Clara's heroism that carries the family across the border, their lives and few precious possessions intact. Grades 2-5.
Baer, Edith. A Frost in the Night. 224p.
It is Germany in 1932, and Hitler is rising to power. This critical place and time in modern history is poignantly re-created through the observations of a young Jewish girl named Eva, who is caught up in the sense of dread shared by the adults around her. Edith Baer has written a novel distilled from memory, love, loss, and sorrow which depicts a girl's impressions of a nation beginning to destroy itself and an entire way of life. A Frost in the Night was nominated for the National Jewish Book Award and won the Arnold Gingrich Award for Literature when it was first published in 1980. Best for 4th grade and up.
Bawden, Nina. Carrie's War. 1973. pages 159p.
Carrie and her younger brother spend World War II as evacuees in a small Welsh village where Carrie, upset by a family feud, commits an act that haunts her for thirty years. Best for 4th grade and up.
Bawden, Nina. The Real Plato Jones. 1993. 166p.
Thirteen-year-old Plato Jones comes to terms with his mixed heritage when he visits Greece and finds out about his Welsh grandfather, a World War II hero, and his Greek grandfather, who is rumored to have been a traitor. 5th grade and up.
Bishop, Claire Huchet. Twenty and Ten. 76p.
Twenty school children hide ten Jewish children from the Nazis occupying France during World War II.
Burton, Hester. In Spite of All Terror. 1968. 203p.
Fifteen-year-old Liz Hawtin is evacuated out of war-torn London during World War II to the countryside. She comes to love her foster family and does her part in helping to defend England. Best for 5th grade and up.
Cooper, Susan. Dawn of Fear. 1970. 157p.
Three English Children, fascinated by the war air raids, gradually become aware of true fear and horror when they seek vengeance on an opposing gang that destroyed their hideaway.
DeJong, Meindert. The House of Sixty Fathers.
Drucker, Malka. Jacob's Rescue: a Holocaust Story.
Fife, Dale. Destination Unknown, North of Danger.
Gardam, Jane. . 1988. 190p.
A young girl aspiring to be a writer recounts her experiences growing up in England during the second world war.
Garrigue, Sheila. All the children sent away. 1976. 171p.
An eight-year-old British girl experiences loneliness and fear when she and many other children are evacuated to Canada during World War II. Best for 4th grade and up.
Haugaard, Erik Christian. The Little Fishes.
Hautzig, Esther. The Endless Step. 1968. 243p.
Heneghan, James. Wish me Luck. 1997. 197p.
While on an ocean voyage to Canada to escape the air raids in his Liverpool home, twelve year old Jamie Monaghan faces another kind of life threatening situation.
Kay, Mara. In Face of Danger.
Kerr, Judith. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. 1971. 191p.
Nine-year-old Anna was too busy with schoolwork and friends in 1933 to take much notice of Adolf Hitler's rise to power in her native Germany. But when her father is suddenly, unaccountably missing, and her family flees Berlin in secrecy, Anna is forced to learn the skills needed to be a refugee and finds she's much more resilient than she thought.
Koehn, Ilse. Tilla. 1981. 240p.
The lives of two teenagers become increasingly entwined as they pursue their few surviving dreams in post-World War II Berlin.
Levitin, Sonia. Journey to America.1970. 150p.
A Jewish family fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938 endures innumerable separations before they are once again united.
Lingard, Joan. Tug of War. 1990. 194p.
follows the ordeal of fourteen-year-old twins Astra and Hugo Petersons, as they and their familly flee their native Latvia before the advancing Russian armies in late 1944 and find themselves homeless refugees in a war-torn Germany.
Lisle, Janet Taylor. Sirens and Spies. 1990. 194p.
No one agrees on the truth about the mysterious violin teacher, Renee Fith, until she herself tells the definitive story of her and brings together all the differing views people have of her.
Lively, Penelope. Going back.
Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars. 1989. 137p.
In 1943 during the German occupation of Denmark, ten year old AnneMarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
Magorian, Michelle. Good night, Mr. Tom. 1981. 318p.
A battered child learns to embrace life when he is adopted by an old man in the English countryside during the second world war. Best for 7th grade and up.
Manley, Joan B. She flew no flags. 1995. 269p.
In early 1944, as the war rages around them. an American family travels from India to the US by ship, under blackout conditions, through the enemy waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Matas, Carol. Code Name Kris. Sequel to Lisa's War. 1990. 152p.
After the Nazi occupation of Denmark forces his Jewish friends to flee the country, 17 year old Jesper continues his work in the underground resistance movement.
Matas, Carol. Daniel's Story. 1993. 136p.
Best for ages 12 and up. Daniel, whose family suffers as the Nazis rise to power in Germany, describes his imprisonment in a concentration camp and his eventual liberation.
Matas, Carol. Greater than angels. 1998. 133p.
Anna, a teenaged German refugee, relates how she and other Jewish children were cared for by the citizens of LeChambon-Sur-Lignon, France, during the German occupation.
Matas, Carol. In my enemy's house. 1999. 167p.
Best for ages 12 and up. When German soldiers arrive in Zloczow during World War II, a young Jewish girl must decide whether or not to conceal her identity and work for a Nazi in Germany in order to survive.
Matas, Carol. Lisa's War. 1987 111p.
During the Nazi occupation of Denmark, Lisa and other teenage Jews become involved in an underground resistance movement and eventually must flee for their lives.
Mazer, Norma Fox. Good Night, Maman. 1999. 185p.
After spending years fleeing from the Nazis in war-torn Europe, twelve-year-old Karin Levi and her older brother Marc, find a new home in a refugee camp in Oswego, New York.
Morpurgo, Michael. Waiting For Anya. 1991. 172p.
Myers, Walter Dean. The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins: a World War II Soldier.: Normandy, France, 1944. 1999. 140p.
A seventeen-year-old soldier from central Virginia records his experiences in a journal as his regiment takes part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and subsequent battles to liberate France.
Oppenheim, Shulamith. The Lily Cupboard.
Orlev, Uri. Lydia, Queen of Palestine.
Orlev, Uri. The Island on Bird Street.
Orlev, Uri. The lady with the hat. 1995. 183p.
(takes place in 1947). In 1947, 17 year old Yulek, the only member of his imediate family to survive the German concentration camps, joins a group of young Jews preparing to live on a Kibbutz in Israel, unaware that his aunt living in London is looking for him.
Orlev, Uri. The man from the other side. 1991. 186p.
Living on the outskirts of the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, fourteen-year-old Marek and his grandparents shelter a Jewish man in the days before the Jewish uprising. Best for ages 12 and up.
Paton-Walsh, Jill. Fireweed. 1969. 133p.
The place is London; the time is the 1940 blitz. Against a background of blazing streets, toppling buildings, air-raid wardens and rescue squads, the author tells the story of a boy and girl who have run away from their families. Nice teenage romance. Best for ages 12 and up.
Pearson, Kit. The Lights Go on Again.
Pelgrom, Els. The winter when time was frozen. 1980. 253p.
In Holland during the last months of World War II a 12 year old girl and her father find shelter with a farm family who courageously give sanctuary to all in need of it.
Pople, Maureen. The Other Side of the Family.
Propp, Vera W. When the Soldiers Were Gone. 1999. 101p.
After the German occupation of the Netherlands, Benjamin leaves the Christian family with whom he had been living and reunites with his real parents who return from hiding.
Serriallier, Ian. The Silver Sword.
Shemin, Margaretha. The Little Riders. 1993. 76p.
An American girl living in Nazi-occupied Holland resents the presence of a German soldier quartered in her grandparents' home until the night she tries to hide part of the town's treasured clock mechanism.
Streatfeild, Noel. When the Sirens Wailed. 1976. 176p.
Rather than stay with a new family, three young evacuees try to return to their home in London after their country host dies suddenly.
Tunis, John. Silence Over Dunkerque.
Uhl, Yuri. Uncle Misha's Partisans.
Van Stockum, Hilda. The Borrowed House. 1975. 215p.
During World War II a young German girl, member of the Hitler youth, goes to live with her parents in occupied Amsterdam and comes to realize the truth about the war.
Vos, Ida. Anna is Still Here. 1993. 139p.
Thirteen year old Anna, who was a "hidden child" in Nazi occupied Holland during World War II, gradually learns to deal with the realities of being a survivor.
Vos, Ida. Hide and Seek. 1981. 132p.
Originally published in Holland in 1981, this novel, based on events in the author's life, relates one Jewish family's experiences during the German occupation in World War II. Eight- year-old Rachel Hartog first notices small changes and restrictions and then must go into hiding until the end of the war.
Vos, Ida. THe Key is Lost. 1996. 242p.
When the Germans occupy Holland in 1940 and begn to persecute the jews there, twelve-year-old Eva and her family assume false names and move from one hiding place to another. For ages 8 and up.
Watkins, Yoko Kawashima. My Brother, My Sister, and I.
Watkins continues the autobiographical account begun in So Far from the Bamboo Grove with the story of how the two sisters, Ko and Yoko, now reunited with their brother, try to survive in postwar Japan. Though they face incredible hardships, they offer support to one another and are extended a helping hand by people they meet along the way.
Westall, Robert. Blitzcat.
Westall, Robert. The Kingdom by the sea. 1991. 175p.
During World War II, twelve-year-old Harry and a stray dog travel through war-torn England in search of safety. Best for 4th grade and up.
Westall, Robert. The Machine Gunners. 192p.
After an air raid, a group of English children find a German machine gun and hide it from adults who are looking for it. Warning--5th graders and older will relish it, but some adults may find it a bit too frightening!
Wuorio, Eva-Lis. To Fight in Silence.
Yolen, Jane. The Devil's Arithmetic. 1988. 170p.
Hannah is tired of hearing about the Nazis during the Holocaust, but when she opens the door for Elijah at the Passover Seder, she is transported in time to 1940s Poland, where she is captured and put in a death camp. A girl named Rivka befriends her, teaching her how to fight the dehumanization of the camp and hold onto her identity.

Top of Page

This site is maintained by the SCPL Webmaster.
If you have a comment or question about anything contained on this site, please contact us.

— —