When a young girl helps tend to her grandmother’s garden, she begins to notice things that make her curious.
When We Were Alone
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction genre
Evangelina Takes Flight
Having fled the rampaging revolutionaries in Mexico in 1911, thirteen-year-old Evangelina and her family face unexpected prejudice and violence in Texas.
Step Up To The Plate, Maria Singh
Nine-year-old Maria Singh learns to play softball just like her heroes in the All-American Girls’ League, while her parents and neighbors are struggling through World War II, working for India’s independence, and trying to stay on their farmland.
Beck
From Carnegie Medal winning author Mal Peet comes a sweeping coming-of-age adventure, both harrowing and life-affirming.
Featured in WOW Review Volume X, Issue 1.
Lost Boys
In 1982, twelve-year-old Reza has no interest in joining Iran’s war effort against Iraq. But in the wake of a tragedy and at his mother’s urging, he decides to enlist, assured by the authorities that he will achieve paradise should he die in service to his country. War does not bring the glory the boys of Iran have been promised, and Reza soon finds himself held in a prisoner-of-war camp in Iraq, where the guards not only threaten violence―they act upon it. Will Reza make it out alive? And if he does, will he even have a home to return to? Friendship, heartbreak, and Reza’s very survival are at stake as he finds solace through music and forges his own path―wherever that might take him.
Making Bombs For Hitler
Lida thought she was safe. Her neighbors wearing the yellow star were all taken away, but Lida is not Jewish. She will be fine, won’t she? But she cannot escape the horrors of World War II. Lida’s parents are ripped away from her and she is separated from her beloved sister, Larissa. The Nazis take Lida to a brutal work camp, where she and other Ukrainian children are forced into backbreaking labor. Starving and terrified, Lida bonds with her fellow prisoners, but none of them know if they’ll live to see tomorrow. When Lida and her friends are assigned to make bombs for the German army, Lida cannot stand the thought of helping the enemy. Then she has an idea. What if she sabotaged the bombs… and the Nazis? Can she do so without getting caught? And if she’s freed, will she ever find her sister again?
Whistling In The Dark
Legendary author Shirley Hughes draws on her young teenage memories for a compelling novel of friendship and mysteries set in Liverpool during the Blitz.
Max
Born in Nazi Germany in 1936, Max is raised as the perfect Aryan but questions his teachings upon learning that his friend Lukas, a Polish boy snatched from his home to be “Germanized,” is secretly Jewish.
Captain
It’s 1915 and British troops are about to sail to Gallipoli. Billy is the youngest soldier in his platoon and is teased for not being old enough to drink or shave. The truth is, at fifteen he’s not old enough to be a soldier, either, and he’s terrified of the war he’s about to fight. Then he meets Captain, a refugee boy, and his donkey, Hey-ho. Together they teach Billy what it means to be brave, loyal, and fearless, and above all what it means to be a friend. Sam Angus pulls at heartstrings in this stirring wartime friendship story.
Outside In
In the jungle outside the growing city of Chandigarh, twelve-year-old street child Ram discovers a hidden rock garden, befriends its creator–a factory worked named Nek–and tries to save Nek’s garden when it is threatened with destruction.
Outside In was featured in WOW Currents Reclaiming Social Emotional Learning with Children’s Literature, Part II.