kate in seattle Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 What do you have your high school students read for World War II? (I am thinking fiction/drama here, not non-fiction.) There has to be something besides Diary of Anne Frank or The Hiding Place. I can think of a lot of great movies, but I am teaching a literatuare/history class and while I will assign one or two movies, we need to have a book as well. thanks, Kate in Seattle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra in NC Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 Summer of My German Soldier is good and so is Under the Blood Red Sun. (The latter is one of my son's favorites.) There are lots of good reviews for these books at Amazon.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 I haven't read either of these books, but I did see the movie and mini-series! *The Winds of War (Herman Wouk) *Empire of the Sun (Ballard) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura K (NC) Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 nt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesloonybin Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 Under a War-Torn Sky by L.M. Elliott is pretty good too. It might be too easy for your son. Terri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5knights3maidens Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 Gunner's Run: A World War II Novel by Rick Barry http://www.bjupress.com young adult book It looks very good. This one from Bethelem books is ages 10 and up but I'm going to have her read this also. Takes place in Holland(Nazi occupation). The Winged Watchman by: Hilda Van Stockum Another from BJU Press for ages 9-12 but I think older should read this: A Father's Promise by DonnaLynn Hess. I know a few of my boys read this in Christian school and really liked it. She is also going to read Hitler's Cross by Erwin W. Lutzer about how the "Cross of Christ was used as a symbol of the Nazi Agenda". (non-fiction) Pearl Harbor by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen (non-fiction) I would like to get 'Enemy Brothers' and 'The Small War of Sergeant Donkey' Look at http://www.bethlehembooks.com Hope This Helps you in some way. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnG in Arizona Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 Band of Brothers, by Stephen Ambrose. Excellent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Love Band of Brothers. We read Parallel Journeys. It's a wonderful story of a boy indoctrinated into the Hitler Youth, and a young married woman sent to a concentration camp. They ended up speaking together after the war--he said he was as much a victim as she was. Very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Atl Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 I also love, A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute. They made a mini series of it.. both are marvelous! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081949/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Albert Marrin's history books are all fabulous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne in S'pore Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 In addition to the ones already mentioned, here are a few I have read: Elie Wiesel, Night, Dawn, and Day (trilogy of Wiesel's experiences of the Holocaust. Night is quite a classic Holocaust memoir) Evelyn Waugh, Sword of Honour trilogy (set in the Mediterranean and originally published in separate volumes as Officers and Gentlemen, Men at Arms, and Unconditional Surrender, but intended by Waugh to be read in a single volume) Paul Watkins, The Forger (about an American art student in Paris pressed into service for the French resistance to forge artworks) These are more thriller-type books than classic literature: Alistair MacLean, The Guns of Navarone and its sequel, Force Ten from Navarone (there is a movie too) Jack Higgins, The Eagle Has Landed and Sheba Hope these are helpful :001_smile: Anne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 This probably does not answer your question for a high school book, but for anyone who enjoys good literature and desires a WWII backdrop, may I recommend Olivia Manning's cycle The Fortunes of War. Penguin sold the books in two volumes, The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy. These six books focus on a group of English expatriates, beginning in Romania and following their movements as the war progresses. This is not war from the trenches but war from the viewpoint of those in the embassies, at universities and in areas of occupation. They are among my favorite books and would be include on my top 100 hundred list of favorite novels. So how's that for a recommendation? Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladydusk Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Schindler's List (Keneally) is a novel based on a true story. Along the same lines as Wiesel's memoirs (highly recommended!) are Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz and The Reawakening. Scooting back to the K-8 board, now ... WWII was kinda my "thing" growing up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennW in SoCal Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Caine Mutiny, by Herman Wouk. My son just finished this and loved it, and he really hates reading fiction! I believe it won a Pulitzer when it was published. The movie is also a classic, with Humphrey Bogart as Captain Queeg. Herman Wouk also wrote The Winds of War. My son also loved the graphic novel called Maus. It the true story of the author and his father's WWII experience as a Jew in Poland and in the concentration camps. The Jews are mice and the Nazis are cats, the Americans dogs. It also won a Pulitzer, and though it sounds simplistic to have such a story done in comic book form, it is quite powerful, and was considered ground breaking when it was published 20 years ago or so. You'll find it in the history section of your bookstore, not in the superhero section. You can find study guides and essays about it on-line. I also highly recommend collections of Ernie Pyle's writings, though they may be out of print. It isn't fiction, but the stories he filed as a reporter from the front lines of Africa and Italy. Excellent writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moira in MA Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Here are a few more: Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh Bel Ria by Sheila Burnford -- definitely not a cute dog story. And No Birds Sang by Farley Mowat -- a memoir rather than fiction; extraordinarily powerful. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claire in NM Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 I have read the Lewis and Clark book, and this was excellent. And I read his memoir. Also very good. And my brother-in-law is an 8th grade American History teacher and he praises Stephen Ambrose's work. The only thing I'm not sure of is the reading level. Claire in NM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy in KY Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 WWII historical fiction may be my favorite genre, and I've read and enjoyed a number of the books mentioned above... but many of them also have adult themes, so beware! Captain Corelli's Mandolin has a prominent story line dealing with a h*m*se*ual soldier as well as at least one very graphic war scene; A Town Like Alice has a main character get crucified, as well as an adult male-female scene; several of the main characters in "The Winds of War" and its sequel have extra-marital relationships or affairs as part of the main story line, and there's another post on this board I just read dealing with the graphic scenes in "Night." So you might want to pre-read anything not specifically intended for a younger audience. Although Jeff Shaara's books aren't my personal faves, he writes knowing that teen readers are among his audience and I would feel fine with my teenage son reading any of his books. I remember reading "The Longest Day" by Cornelius Ryan (a D-Day epic) in high school and really enjoying it. I've recently read "Flyboys" and "Flags of our Fathers" by James Bradley and they were great. Bradley also wrote a young people's version of "Flags of Our Fathers", which tells the story of the six men raising the flag on Iwo Jima. I haven't read the young people's version, but I would think it edits out some of the graphic scenes (for example, one explicit scene in the adult book describes a soldier finding his friend who had been captured and tortured to death by the Japanese). I also liked "Rosa's Miracle Mouse: The True Story of a WWII Undercover Teenager"by Agnes Daluge. It's a fairly short autobiography of a German teen who spied for the Allied Forces as part of the Munich Underground, and it's a book you can read with teens or younger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pqr Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 Try Babi Yar, a wonderful and tragic book about living in Kyiv during the occupation. This book is about a lesser known part of the war as seen by a civilian in an occupied city. The book also speaks about the extermination camp at Babi Yar. Warning it is graphic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 I concur with JennW and recommend Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kate in seattle Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 thanks everyone for all their marvelous suggestions. i am not sure, however, that you have made my job easier! [grin]. back to the shelves. again, many thanks. this group ALWAYS has something great to contribute. Kate in Seattle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yolanda in Mass Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 :iagree: Albert Marrin's history books are all fabulous! My son who is not a reader (or didn't used to be) absolutely loves Marrin! Yolanda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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