Read-alikes
Novels About Children in World War II
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A Fable by John Boyne (Fiction Boy). A heart-wrenching story of friendship between the Nazi Commandant’s young son and a boy from the other side of the concentration camp fence.
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay (Fiction Ros). A young girl worries about the safety of her little brother, locked in a hiding place when the family is arrested.
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies (Fiction Dav). The story of 17-year-old Esther, her challenges, loves, and discoveries during World War II.
Silesian Station by David Downing (Fiction Dow). Living in Berlin on the eve of Germany’s invasion of Poland, an English-American journalist takes a personal interest in a Jewish country girl who’s gone missing in the big city.
A Hatred for Tulips by Richard Lourie (Fiction Lou). An old man recalls the struggle to feed his starving family during the Nazi occupation in Amsterdam and the devastating chain of events for a young girl named Anne Frank.
The Madonnas of Leningrad: A Novel by Debra Dean (Fiction Dea). Alternating between life in present-day America and a past life in the Soviet Union, an elderly Russian woman recalls her experience during the siege of Leningrad.
City of Thieves: A Novel by David Benioff (Fiction Ben). While investigating the siege of Leningrad, a young writer learns how his grandfather hoped to escape his execution by securing eggs for a wedding cake.
The Power of Stories
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (Fiction Sha). Residents of a Nazi-occupied island buoy their spirits through literature when the food and fuel run out.
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (Fiction Ben). Obliged to borrow a book when her corgis stray into a mobile library, the Queen of Great Britain discovers a passion for reading.
Book Burning and Artistic Censorship
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (SF/Fantasy Fah). In a future where people watch wall-sized reality TV and do not think or act independently, firemen burn books and start fires.
The Archivist’s Story by Travis Holland (Fiction Hol). In 1939 Moscow, a reluctant young archivist is sent to confiscate and destroy an incarcerated writer’s final works.
The Dream Life of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin (Fiction Gru). After losing his job and the respect of his family, a Russian artist confronts his past in a series of dreams that reveals the sacrifices he has made.
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (Fiction Kin). Weaves pointed social commentary through the dark moments of history between Mexico and the United States in the 30s, 40s and 50s.
Veracity by Laura Bynum (Fiction Byn). Surviving a viral terrorist attack that wipes out 1/3 of the American population, a young woman witnesses the formation of a new government dedicated to suppressing all forms of resistance and meting out harsh punishments.
Juvenile Fiction
The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (J Bar). A 17-year-old is imprisoned for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets in Germany during the war.
The Greatest Skating Race: A World War II Story from the Netherlands by Louise Borden (J Fiction Bor). A 10-year-old’s dream of skating in a famous race allows him to help two children escape to Belgium by ice skating past German soldiers and other enemies.
Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War II by Joseph Bruchac (J Bru).
After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.
Spying on Miss Muller by Eve Bunting (J Bun).
In Belfast at the start of World War II, 13-year-old Jessie must deal with her suspicions about a teacher whose father was German while worrying about her own father's drinking problem.
Molly’s Fire by Janet Lee Carey (J Car). Back home in Maine, Molly refuses to believe the telegram that says her father is presumed dead when his plane is shot down in Holland during World War II.
The Entertainer and the Dybbuk by Sid Fleischman (J Fle). A struggling American ventriloquist in post-World War II Europe is possessed by the mischievous spirit of a young Jewish boy killed in the Holocaust. Author's note details the murder of over one million children by the Nazis during the 1930s and 1940s.
Friends and Enemies by LouAnn Gaeddert (J Gae).
In 1941 in Kansas, as America enters World War II, fourteen-year-old William finds himself alienated from his friend Jim, a Mennonite who does not believe in fighting for any reason, as they argue about the war.
Willow Run by Patricia Reilly Giff (J Gif).
During World War II, after moving with her parents to Willow Run, Michigan, when her father gets a job in the B-24 bomber-building factory, eleven-year-old Meggie learns about different kinds of bravery from all of the people around her.
Stepping on the Cracks by Mary Downing Hahn (J Hah). In 1944, while her brother is overseas fighting in World War II, 11-year-old Margaret gets a new view of the school bully when she finds him hiding his army deserter brother, and decides to help him.
Theo by Barbara Harrison (J Har). A 12-year-old puppeteer performs bravely on and off the stage after joining the Greek resistance movement during World War II.
Aleutian Sparrow by Karen Hesse (J Hes). An Aleutian Islander recounts her suffering during World War II in American internment camps designed to "protect" the population from the invading Japanese.
The Private Notebook of Katie Roberts, Age 11 by Amy Hest (J Hes). In a series of journal entries and letters to a pen pal, Katie relates her feelings about her father's death in World War II, her mother's remarriage, and the family's move from New York City to Texas.
Spider Sparrow by Dick King-Smith (J Kin). Spider, a baby abandoned on an English farm, grows up to be mentally slower than other children but manifests a remarkable talent for communicating with animals as he comes of age during World War II.
Pearl Harbor is Burning! A Story of World War II by Kathleen V. Kudlinski (J Kud). New friends Frank and Kenji struggle with issues of loyalty and friendship as they watch the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (J Low). During the German occupation of Denmark, a 10-year-old learns courage when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
After the War by Carol Matas (J Mat). After being released from Buchenwald at the end of World War II, 15-year-old Ruth joins the underground organization Berihah, and risks her life to lead a group of children across Europe to Palestine.
The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins: A World War II Soldier by Walter Dean Myers (J Mye).
A 17-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.
Captain’s Command by Anna Myers (J Mye). Even as Christmas approaches and Gail longs to hear that her soldier father has not been killed in World War II, the 6th-grader helps bring her handicapped uncle back to life.
The Spy Who Came in from the Sea by Peggy Nolan (J Nol). A 14-year-old moves to Florida at the height of World War II to join his father, a Navy seaman, and soon develops such a reputation for exaggeration that when he announces having seen an enemy spy land on the beach, no one believes him.
When My Name was Keoko by Linda Sue Park (J Par). With national pride and occasional fear, a brother and sister face the increasingly oppressive occupation of Korea by Japan during World War II, which threatens to suppress Korean culture entirely.
Aniela Kaminski’s Story: A Voyage from Poland During World War II by Clare Pastore (J Pas).
When Aniela's Jewish friends in Warsaw start disappearing, she flees to America with her father. But even though she loves her new homeland, Aniela longs for those she left behind.
The Cookcamp by Gary Paulsen (J Pau). During World War II, a five-year-old boy is sent to live with his grandma, who cooks for workers building a road through the wilderness of Minnesota.
I Had Seen Castles by Cynthia Rylant (J Ryl). Now an old man, John is haunted by memories of himself as an 18-year-old, enlisting to fight in World War II, a decision which forced him to face the horrors of war that changed his life forever.
The Haunting at Stratton Falls by Brenda Seabrooke (J Sea). At Christmastime in 1944, while staying with disagreeable cousins in New York State because her father is in Europe fighting in World War II, 11-year-old Abby discovers that her relatives' old house is haunted by the ghost of a girl from the Civil War era.
Milkweed: A Novel by Jerry Spinelli (J Spi). The hardships and cruelty of life in the ghettos of Warsaw is captured through the eyes of a Jewish orphan.
Summer Witches by Theresa Tomlinson (J Tom). Two friends convert an old air-raid shelter into a den and help an old woman, who teaches them sign language and herbal medicine, to overcome her painful memories of World War II.
Hide and Seek and The Key is Lost by Ida Vos (J Fiction Vos) are stories about Jewish families hiding in Holland during the Nazi occupation.
Time of Fire by Robert Westall (J Wes). In England during World War II, with his mother dead from a German bomb and his father off in training and action but keeping him informed by letter, Sonny tries to understand the darkest truths of war and retribution.
Young Adult
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (YA Boy). Bored and lonely after his family moves from Berlin to a place called "Out-With" in 1942, Bruno, the son of a Nazi officer, befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wire fence.
Eyes of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury (YA Sal). Following orders from the United States Army, several young Japanese-American men train K-9 units to hunt Asians during World War II.
Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith (YA Smi). During World War II, a light-skinned African-American girl "passes" for white in order to join the Women Air Force Service Pilots.
Katarina: A Novel by Kathryn Winter (YA Win). During World War II in Slovakia, a young Jewish girl in hiding becomes a devout Catholic and is sustained by her belief that she will return home to her family as soon as the war ends.
The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen (YA Yol). Hannah resents stories of her Jewish heritage and of the past until, when opening the door during a Passover Sedar, she finds herself in Poland during World War II where she experiences the horrors of a concentration camp, and learns why she–and we–need to remember the past.
