Reading Lists

World War II

Stones in Waterby Donna Jo Napoleon (JUV NAP)
After being taken by German soldiers from a local movie theatre along with other Italian boys including his Jewish friend, Roberto is forced to work in Germany, escapes into the Ukrainian winter, before desperately trying to make his way back to Venice. 

Twenty and Ten by Claire Hachette Bishop, as told by Janet Jolly (JUV FIC BIS)
Twenty school children hide 10 Jewish children from the Nazi’s during occupation of France in WWII.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (JUV LOW)
In 1943, during the German occupation of Demark 10yr old Anne Marie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.

Rose Blanche by Roberto Innocent (JUV FIC INN)
The story of a young German child who tries to help the people behind the barbed wire during the war.

Spying on Miss Muller by Eve Bunting (JUV FIC BUN)
At Alveara boarding school in Belfast at the start of WWII, 13yr old Jessie must deal with her suspicions about a teacher whose father was German and with her worries about her own father’s drinking problem.

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by M.E. Kerr (JUV FIC KER)
Recounts the adventure of a 9yr old Jewish girl and her family in the early 1930’s as they travel from Germany to England.

Journey Home by Yoshiko Uchida (JUV FIC UCH)
After their release from an interment camp, Yuki and her family have difficulties returning to life in Berkley California.

Katarina: a novel by Kathryn Winter (JUV WIN)
During WWII 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.

Lydia, Queen of Palestine by Uri Orlev (JUV FIC ORL)
A young Romanian Jewish girl describes her childhood in pre-WWII Romania, her struggle to understand her parent’s divorce amid the chaos of the war, and her life on a kibbutz in Palestine. Based on the life of the Israeli poet Arianna Haran.

Behind the Bedroom Wall by Laura Williams (JUV FIC WILL)
Ten yr. old Korinna must decide whether to report her parents to her Hitler youth group when she discovers that they are hiding Jews in a special place behind Korinna’s bedroom wall.

The Cay by Theodore Taylor (JUV FIC TAY)
When the freighter on which they are traveling on is torpedoed by a German submarine during WWII a 12 yr old white boy, blinded by a blow to the head and an old Negro are stranded on a small desert island in the Caribbean where the boy acquires a new kind of vision, courage and love from his old companion.

David and Max by Gary Levine Provost (JUV FIC PRO)
While spending the summer with his grandfather Max and helping him search for a friend believed to have perished in the Holocaust, 12 yr old David discovers many things about Max’s terrible years during WWII and subsequent family relationships.

Gold Star Sister by Claire Rudolf Murphy (JUV FIC MUR)
While watching her grandmother cope with the last stages of cancer, 13 yr old Carrie comes to know her better through letters she and her long-dead brother wrote to each other during WWII.

A Necessary End by Nathaniel Benchley (YA FIC BEN)
A young man’s diary reveals the fears, frustrations, and the humor. that filled his three years in the Navy during WWII.

After the War by Carol Matas (YA FIC MAT)
After being released from Buchenwald at the end of WWII, 15 yr old Ruth risks her life to lead a group of children across Europe to Palestine

The War at Home by Connie Jordan Green (YA FIC GRE)
Living in Oak Ridge Tennessee, where her father is involved in a secret government project in the final months of WWII, 13 yr old Mattie carries on the constant debate with her 12 yr old cousin Virgil about the relative merits of boys vs. girls.

Two Suns in the Sky by Miriam Bat-Ami (YA FIC BAT-AMI)
After being moved from Yugoslavia to a refugee camp in New York during WWII, a local girl befriends one Jewish boy, but when their special friendship turns to romance, their parents demand they end the relationship.

Under the Blood Red Sun by Graham Salisbury (YA FIC SAL)
Tomikazu Nakaji’s biggest concerns are baseball, homework, and a local bully, until life with his Japanese family in Hawaii changes drastically after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Dec. 1941.

Waiting for Anya by Michael Morpurgo (YA FIC MOR)
WWII adventure story set in Vichy, France centers on a young shepherd who becomes involved in smuggling Jewish children across the border from his mountain village to Spain.

Raspberry One by Charles Ferry (YA FIC FER)
Nick and Hildy, two young air crewman flying bombing support against Japan’s kamikaze offensive in the Pacific, are devastated but ultimately strengthened by their war experience. 

The Last Mission by Harry Mazer (YA FIC MAZ)
Determined to be a hero and fight the Nazis 15 yr old Jack Raab joins the U.S. Air force. On his last flight he is captured and imprisoned in a German POW camp.

Civil War & Slavery

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco (JE POL)
Say Curtis describes his meeting with Pinkus Aylee, a black soldier, during the Civil War, and their capture by southern troops.

Band of Angels: A Story Inspired by the Jubilee Singers by Deborah Hopkinson (JE HOP)
After the Civil War, the daughter of a slave forms a gospel-signing group and goes on tour to raise money to save Fisk University. Factual though the dialogue is fictional.

Steal Away by Jennifer Armstrong (JUV FIC ARM)
In 1855, two thirteen year old girls, one white and one black, run away from a southern farm and make the difficult journey north to freedom, living to recount their story forty-one years later to two similar girls.

Charley Skedaddle by Patricia Beatty (JUV FIC BEA)           
During the Civil War, a 12 yr old Bowery Boy from New York City joins the Union Army as a drummer, deserts during a battle in Virginia, and encounters a hostile old mountain woman.

A Picture of Freedom: the Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl, Belmont Plantation Virginia by Patricia McKissack (JUV FIC MCK)
In 1859, 12 yr old Clotee, a house salve who must conceal the fact that she can read and write, records in her diary her experiences and her struggle to decide whether to escape to freedom.

Across the Lines by Carolyn Reeder (JUV FIC REE)
Edward, the son of a white plantation owner, and his black house servant and friend Simon witness the siege of Petersburg during the Civil War.

A School for Pompey Walker by Michael J. Rosen (JUV FIC ROS)
At the dedication of a school named after him, an old former slave tells the story of his life and how his white friend helped him earn money for the school by repeatedly selling him into slavery, after which he always escaped.

Abraham’s battle: a novel of Gettysburg by Sara Harrell Banks (JUV FIC BAN)
In 1863, as the Civil War approaches his home in Gettysburg and he realizes that big battle is about to begin, a freed slave named Abraham decides to join the ambulance corps of the Union Army.

Which Way freedom? by Joyce Hansen (JUV FIC HAN)
Obi escapes from slavery during the Civil War, joins a black Union regiment, and soon becomes involved in the bloody fighting at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

Silent Thunder by Andrea Davis Pinkney (JUV FIC PIN)
In 1862 eleven-year-old Summer and her thirteen-year-old brother Rosco take turns describing how life on the quiet Virginia plantation where they are slaves is affected by the Civil War.

 Eben Tyne, Powdermonkey by Patricia Beatty and Phillip Robins (YA BEA)
A thirteen-year-old powdermonkey in the Confederate Navy joins the crew of the ironclad Merrimack in a mission to break the Union blockade of Norfolk harbor.

Other Historical Fiction Titles

American Girl Series  (various authors) JUV AMER

Dear America (various authors) JUV DEAR

Beautiful Warrior: The Legend of the Nun’s Kung Fu by Emily A. McCully (JE MCC)
Tells the story of two young women, both Kung Fu masters, and how their skills in martial arts helped them choose their own destinies.  

Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse (JUV FIC HES)
In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her family’s flight from Russia in 1919 and her own experiences when she must be left in Belgium for a while when the others emigrate to America.

Where the Broken Heart Still Beats: the story of Cynthia Parker by Carolyn Meyer (JUV FIC MEY)
Having been taken as a child and raised by Comanche Indians, thirty-four-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker is forcibly returned to her white relatives, where she longs for her Indian life and her only friend is her twelve-year-old cousin Lucy.

Earthquake at Dawn by Kristiana Gregory (JUV FIC GRE)
A novelization of 22 yr old photographer Edith Irvine’s experiences in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, as seen through the eyes of fifteen-year-old Daisy, a fictitious traveling companion.

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor (JUV FIC TAY)
A black family living in the South during the 1930’s is faced with prejudice and discrimination that its children do not understand.

The Well: David’s Story by Mildred Taylor (JUV FIC TAY)
In Mississippi in the early 1930’s 10 yr old David Logan’s family generously shares their well water with both white and black neighbors in an atmosphere of potential racial violence.

Shipwrecked on Padre Island by Isabel Marvin (JUV FIC MAR)
In this fictionalized account of a 1554 shipwreck off Padre Island, Texas, a 13 yr old survivor loses a treasured gold bracelet that links her to the present-day visitors of the island. 

The Bobbin Girl by Emily A. McCully (JUV FIC MCC)
A ten-year-old bobbin girl working in a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the 1830’s must make a difficult decision—will she participate in the first workers’ strike in Lowell.

The Midwife’s Apprentice by Carolyn Cushman (JUV FIC CUS)
In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.

When Willard Met Babe Ruth by Barry Moser (JUV FIC MOS)
A boy meets the young Babe Ruth and along with his family follows the Babe’s long and illustrious career.

Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell (JUV FIC ODE)
A young Navaho girl recounts the events of 1864 when her tribe was forced to march to Fort Sumner as prisoners of the white soldiers.

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich (JUV FIC ERD)
Omakayas, a 7 yr old Native American girl of the Ojibwa tribe, lives though the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island in Lake Superior in 1847.

Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (JUV FIC MAC)
When their father invites a mail-order bride from Maine to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay.

Titanic Crossing by Barbara Williams (JUV FIC WIL)
In 1912, thirteen-year-old Albert considers his younger sister a pest, but things change when they travel with their mother and uncle aboard the Titanic and are caught up in its tragic sinking.

Waiting for Mama by Marietta Moskin (JUV FIC MOS)
A Russian immigrant family living in New York in the early 1900's prepares for the long-awaited arrival of their mother and baby sister.

What Zeesie Saw on Delancey Street by Elsa Okon Rael (JUV FIC RAE)
A young Jewish girl living on Manhattan's Lower East Side attends her first "package party" where she learns about the traditions of generosity, courage, and community among Jewish immigrants in the early 1900s.

All Of A Kind Family by Sidney Taylor (JUV FIC TAY)
The adventures of five sisters growing up in a Jewish family in New York in the early twentieth century.

Cast Two Shadows: the American Revolution in the South by Ann Renaldo (YA FIC RIN)
In South Carolina in 1780, Fourteen-year-old Caroline sees the Revolutionary War take a terrible toll among her family and friends and comes to understand the true nature of war.

This New Land by Clifton Wiser (YA FIC WIS)
Ten-year-old Richard Woodlyn describes his trip to the new world aboard the Mayflower and tells about the first year spent by the Pilgrims at Plymouth.

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier (YA FIC COL)
Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town.