World War II Book List

This book list covers the World War II the book list of is divided into three categories picture books, early reader, and middle grade children’s books. I would like to note that the picture books are mostly meant for older readers


Picture Books (read aloud)


The Greatest Skating Race : A World War II Story From the Netherlands
Louise Borden and Niki Daly

From the Product Description
During World War II in the Netherlands, a ten-year-old boy'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.

Across the Blue Pacific : Word War II Story
Louise Borden and Robert Andrew Parker

From the Product Description
When the United States enters World War II, Molly is attending Beechwood Elementary. But her thoughts are with Ted Walker, her neighbor, who is serving aboard a cruiser in the South Atlantic.

Three years later, the war is still going on and Molly is in the fourth grade. Ted is still at sea, as a naval officer of the USS Albacore, a submarine in the Pacific Ocean. Orchard Road feels like the safest place on earth, but somewhere on the other side of the world, Ted and his crew is carrying out dangerous missions. No one knows when they will come home, and young Molly must find a way to live with fear during wartime.

Boxes for Katje
Candace Fleming and Stacy Dressen-MQueen

From The Product Description
When the United States enters World War II, Molly is attending Beechwood Elementary. But her thoughts are with Ted Walker, her neighbor, who is serving aboard a cruiser in the South Atlantic.

Three years later, the war is still going on and Molly is in the fourth grade. Ted is still at sea, as a naval officer of the USS Albacore, a submarine in the Pacific Ocean. Orchard Road feels like the safest place on earth, but somewhere on the other side of the world, Ted and his crew are carrying out dangerous missions. No one knows when they will come home, and young Molly must find a way to live with fear during wartime.

Early Readers ( ages 6-9)

Pigeon Hero!
Shirley Raye Redmond and Doris Ettlinger

From the Product Description
In a town in Italy during World War II the people have surrendered without firing a shot. But American warplanes are due to arrive, and the radio's broken, so no one can tell them to call off the attack! G. I. Joe, a carrier pigeon, is the only one who can take the message to the Americans. Will he make it in time and save the town?

Nora the Fifty Cent Dog
Lolly Stoddars

From the Product Description
Nora, the Fifty Cent Dog" is based on a true story of a U.S Coast Guard beach patrol dog in North Carolina during World War II. After a loving owner paid fifty cents for Nora, a stray German shepherd, she helped him patrol the beach against enemy invaders. When his life was in danger, Nora found help and saved him, for which she received an award from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Written for young readers, this tale of canine love and loyalty will warm the heart of anyone who enjoys the partnership of owning a dog.

Chapter Books (ages 9-12)

Number the Stars
Lois Lowry

From the Product description
Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think of life before the war. It's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are "relocated". Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be one of the family. Soon Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to save Ellen's life.

The Devil’s Arithmatic
Jane Yolen

From the Product Description
Hannah thinks tonight’s Passover Seder will be the same as always. Little does she know that this year she will be mysteriously transported into the past where only she knows the horrors that await.

The Victory Garden
Lee Kochenderfer

From the Product Description
It’s 1943, and everyone says the war will be over soon–World War II, that is–but Teresa Marks wonders exactly when that day will come. Her older brother, Jeff, is fighting overseas, and Teresa worries about him, hoping he’ll get home to Kansas safely. As a way of speeding Jeff’s return, Teresa and her dad help the war effort by planting a victory garden. For two years, they’ve planted tomatoes (Jeff’s favorite!) and won taste-testing duels with a curmudgeonly neighbor. But this spring, when the neighbor is hospitalized, Teresa rallies her friends to tend to his garden. She even considers using her secret for growing better tomatoes on her rival’s plants. But her faith in secret weapons, in victory gardens, in people, and in life itself is shattered as the war rages on abroad and death strikes close to home.

Milkweed
Jerry Spinelli

From the Product Description
A stunning novel of the Holocaust from a Newbery Medalist

He's a boy called Jew. Gypsy. Stopthief. Filthy son of Abraham.

He's a boy who lives in the streets of Warsaw. He's a boy who steals food for himself, and the other orphans. He's a boy who believes in bread, and mothers, and angels.

He's a boy who wants to be a Nazi, with tall, shiny jackboots of his own-until the day that suddenly makes him change his mind.

And when the trains come to empty the Jews from the ghetto of the damned, he's a boy who realizes it's safest of all to be nobody.

Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli takes us to one of the most devastating settings imaginable-Nazi-occupied Warsaw during World War II-and tells a tale of heartbreak, hope, and survival through the bright eyes of a young Holocaust orphan.

A boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor
Harry Mazer

From the Product Description
December 7, 1941: A morning like any other, but the events of this day would leave no one untouched.
For Adam, living near Honolulu, this Sunday morning is one he has been looking forward to -- fishing with friends, away from the ever-watchful eyes of his father, a navy lieutenant. Then, right before his eyes, Adam watches Japanese planes fly overhead and attack the U.S. Navy. All he can think is that it's just like in the movies. But as he sees his father's ship, the Arizona, sink beneath the water, he realizes this isn't make-believe. It's real. Over the next few days, Adam searches for answers -- about his friends, the war, and especially, his father. But Adam soon learns sometimes there are no answers