1939 – 1945
WWII involved many of the world’s nations, including the major powers divided into the Allies and the Axis. The war began with Germany’s invasion of Poland and spread across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. Key events included the Holocaust, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, D-Day, and the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The war resulted in significant loss of life and destruction, leading to the downfall of the Axis powers and reshaping the world order with the establishment of the United Nations and the beginning of the Cold War. You can find books about Weimar and Hitler here. For deep dives into subtopics, see:
–The Holocaust and Other Jewish Experiences
-Japanese-American Internment
–Resistance
Picture books
Coming on Home Soon
Story of a girl and her grandmother finding strength together on the American home front
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Wind Flyers
Story of a boy whose love of flight led him to become a Tuskegee Airman during WWII
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The Girl Who Could Fix Anything: Beatrice Shilling, World War II Engineer
Story of a girl who grew up to be a mechanic for the Royal Air Force
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Hanna’s Cold Winter
True story of how the people of Budapest saved a hippopotamus in their zoo during WWII
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The Little Ships: The Heroic Rescue at Dunkirk in World War II
Story of an armada of “little ships ” that rescued soldiers trapped in France
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Chapter books
Summer of My German Soldier
Classic novel about an American Jewish girl and her unexpected friendship with a German prisoner of war
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Hettie and the London Blitz: A World War II Survival Story
Story of a London girl surviving the Blitz
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Now or Never: A Dunkirk Story
Story of a young Indian soldier on his way to fight at Dunkirk
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World War II: An Interactive History Adventure
Choose-your-own-adventure book set during WWII
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World War II Infantrymen: An Interactive History Adventure
Choose-your-own-adventure book set among infantrymen during WWII
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World War II Spies: An Interactive History Adventure
Choose-your-own-adventure book set among spies during WWII
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The Attack on Pearl Harbor: An Interactive History Adventure
Choose-your-own-adventure book set during the attack on Pearl Harbor
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The War That Saved My Life
Award-winning book about a girl discovering a new life after being evacuated from London
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Salt to the Sea
Award-winning, intertwining story of four teenage refugees feeling the Soviet advance during WWII
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Rescue
Thrilling story of a French girl trying to solve a mystery left by her prisoner-of-war father
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A Place to Hang the Moon
Award-winning story of three siblings adjusting to their new home after evacuating London
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Under the Broken Sky
Beautiful story of a Japanese orphan coping with Russian invasion during WWII
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The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins: A World War II Soldier, Normandy France, 1944
Fictional journal of a young solider fighting in Normandy
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My Secret War: The World War II Diary of Madeline Beck
Fictional diary of a girl on the home front helping the war effort and solving a mystery
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Early Sunday Morning: The Pearl Harbor Diary of Amber Billows
Fictional diary of a girl experiencing the attack on Pearl Harbor
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Don’t You Know There’s a War On?
A boy on the American home front solves a mystery
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World War II on the Home Front: An Interactive History Adventure
Choose-your-own-adventure book set on the American home front
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The Children of Willesden Lane: A True Story of Hope and Survival During World War II
True story of an Austrian girl sent alone to London for her safety
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Meet Molly
First book in the American Girl series about Molly, a girl on the home front of WWII
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Voices at Whisper Bend
American kids solve a mystery while collecting scrap metal for the war effort
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Non-fiction books
World War II: Visual Encyclopedia
Photo-rich encyclopedia of all things WWII
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What Was Pearl Harbor?
Introduction to the bombings at Pearl Harbor
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What Was D-Day?
Introduction to D-Day, a turning point of WWII
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What Was the Bombing of Hiroshima?
Introduction to the atomic bombings at the end of WWII and their impact
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Children of the World War II Home Front
Explanation of life on the American home front for children during WWII
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Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II
Introduction to women’s work on the home front during WWII
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Raid of No Return (Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales)
Exciting graphic novel about the Doolittle Raid
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Woeful Second World War (Horrible Histories)
Accessible overview of WWII
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Normandy: A Graphic History of D-Day
Gripping graphic novel about D-Day
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Welcome to Molly’s World,1944: Growing Up in World War Two America
Daily life on the America home front during WWII , through the eyes of American Girl’s Molly
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Biographies
Who Was Winston Churchill?
Introduction to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during WWII
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Who Were the Tuskegee Airmen?
Introduction to the African American military pilots who paved the way for military integration
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Who Were the Navajo Code Talkers?
Introduction to the American Indian men who created an unbreakable code for the US military
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