Theme: World War II

Sacred Shadows

By Book Importer | Published: October 1, 2009

When her German hometown becomes part of Poland after World War I, Lene, a young German Jew, struggles to come to terms with the anti-Semitism and anti-German hatred that seems to be growing around her.

Descriptors: Germany, Historical Fiction, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Poland » Other Themes: , , , , , , » Leave a comment

After the War

By Book Importer | Published: October 1, 2009

“Didn’t the gas ovens finish you all off?” is the response that meets Ruth Mendenberg when she returns to her village in Poland after the liberation of Buchenwald at the end of World War II. Her entire family wiped out in the Holocaust, the fifteen-year-old girl has nowhere to go. Members of the underground organization [...]

Descriptors: Historical Fiction, Israel, Palestine, Poland, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , , » Leave a comment

The Cage

By Book Importer | Published: October 1, 2009

A teenage girl recounts the suffering and persecution of her family under the Nazis–in a Polish ghetto, through deportation, and in concentration camps.

Descriptors: Biography, Germany, Poland, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , , » Leave a comment

Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story

By Book Importer | Published: October 1, 2009

By the time WWII ended in Europe, the Blumenthal family–Marion, her brother Albert, and their parents–had lived in a succession of refugee, transit, and prison camps for more than six years, not only surviving but staying together. This memoir is written in spare, powerful prose that vividly depicts the endless degradation and humiliation suffered by [...]

Descriptors: Biography, Germany, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Netherlands » Other Themes: , , , , , , , , , » 1 Comment

The Real Plato Jones

By Book Importer | Published: October 1, 2009

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.

Descriptors: Greece, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Realistic Fiction, Wales (UK) » Other Themes: , , , , , , » Leave a comment

T4 A Novel

By Book Importer | Published: October 1, 2009

It is 1939. Paula Becker, thirteen years old and deaf, lives with her family in a rural German town. As rumors swirl of disabled children quietly disappearing, a priest comes to her family’s door with an offer to shield Paula from an uncertain fate. When the sanctuary he offers is fleeting, Paula needs to call [...]

Descriptors: Europe, Germany, Historical Fiction, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Poetry » Other Themes: , , , , , » Leave a comment

Stolen Voices: Young People’s War Diaries, from World War I to Iraq

By Book Importer | Published: October 1, 2009

Zlata Filipovic’s diary of her harrowing war experiences in the Balkans, published in 1993, made her a globally recognized spokesperson for children affected by military conflict. In Stolen Voices, she and co-editor Melanie Challenger have gathered fifteen diaries of young people coping with war, from World War I to the struggle in Iraq that continues [...]

Descriptors: Biography, International, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , , » Leave a comment

The Peace Bell

By Book Importer | Published: October 1, 2009

Yuko’s grandmother remembers that when she was a little girl many years ago in Japan, her town’s beautiful temple bell was taken away to be used as scrap metal for the war effort. She thought she’d never see it again. After the war the bell was brought to America by a U. S. Navy crew [...]

Descriptors: Asia, Historical Fiction, Japan, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9), United States of America » Other Themes: , , , , , » Leave a comment

When My Name Was Keoko

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: December 1, 2008

Sun-hee and her older brother Tae-yul are proud of their Korean heritage. Yet they live their lives under Japanese occupation. All students must read and write in Japanese and no one can fly the Korean flag. Hardest of all is when the Japanese Emperor forces all Koreans to take Japanese names. Sun-hee and Tae-yul become [...]

Descriptors: Historical Fiction, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Korea, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , , , » 3 Comments

Beyond Paradise

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: December 1, 2008

This unusual first novel is based on true accounts of the imprisonment of American citizens in Japanese detention camps in the Philippines during World War II. Louise Keller travels with her missionary family to the Philippines on the eve of Pearl Harbor. At first the country seems like paradise, but soon Louise and her family [...]

Descriptors: Historical Fiction, Oceania, Philippines, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , » Leave a comment