Rec. great WW II novels for boys, 12

[Alicia64]

My boys are 12 and we're studying

 

Great Depression and WW II.

 

I'd love to get fantastic fiction for both. The Dust Bowl too, if you know of any good reads.

 

One boy is 12 going on 32. The other boy is a very young 12 and is easily upset so I need the horrors of concentration camps kept to a minimum for his sake -- although he knows about them.

 

Thanks!

 

Alley

[Laura Corin]

Carrie's War is good - it's about children evacuated to the countryside in wartime Britain.  There's another book, Goodnight Mr Tom, that is often scheduled for this age group - I wouldn't give it to a sensitive child, as it has quite explicit child abuse (by a mentally ill character), and the death of a beloved character.

[Michael12]

World War II:

 

Barne, Kitty: We'll Meet in England (1943)
Benary-Isbert, Margot: Castle on the Border (1956)
Benary-Isbert, Margot: Dangerous Spring (1961)
Benary-Isbert, Margot: Rowan Farm (1954)
Benary-Isbert, Margot: The Ark (1953)
Benchley, Nathaniel: Bright Candles (1974)
Bishop, Claire Huchet: Pancakes-Paris (1947)
Bishop, Claire Huchet: Twenty and Ten (1952)
Buck, Pearl S.: Dragon Seed (1941)
de Jong, Dola: Return to the Level Land (1947)
de Jong, Dola: The Level Land (1943)
de Jong, Meindert: The House of Sixty Fathers (1956)
de Vries, Anne: Journey Through the Night (1960)
Haugaard, Erik C.: The Little Fishes (1967)
Holm, Anne: North to Freedom (1963)    
Levitin, Sonia: Journey to America (1970)
McSwigan, Marie: All Aboard for Freedom!    (1954)
McSwigan, Marie: Snow Treasure (1942)
Savery, Constance: Enemy Brothers (1943)
Senje, Sigurd: Escape! (1964)
Serraillier, Ian: The Silver Sword (1959)
Shemin, Margaretha: The Little Riders (1963)
Stiles, Martha Bennet: Darkness over the Land (1966)
Streatfeild, Noel: When the Sirens Wailed (1974)
Tunis, John: His Enemy, His Friend (1967)
Tunis, John: Silence over Dunkerque (1962)
Van Stockum, Hilda: The Winged Watchman (1962)
Voronkova, L.: Little Girl from the City (1948)
 

Dust Bowl:

 

Cooper, Michael: Dust to Eat (2004)

Gates, Doris: Blue Willow (1940)

Hesse, Karen: Out of the Dust (1997)

[Alicia64]

World War II:

 

Barne, Kitty: We'll Meet in England (1943)

Benary-Isbert, Margot: Castle on the Border (1956)

Benary-Isbert, Margot: Dangerous Spring (1961)

Benary-Isbert, Margot: Rowan Farm (1954)

Benary-Isbert, Margot: The Ark (1953)

Benchley, Nathaniel: Bright Candles (1974)

Bishop, Claire Huchet: Pancakes-Paris (1947)

Bishop, Claire Huchet: Twenty and Ten (1952)

Buck, Pearl S.: Dragon Seed (1941)

de Jong, Dola: Return to the Level Land (1947)

de Jong, Dola: The Level Land (1943)

de Jong, Meindert: The House of Sixty Fathers (1956)

de Vries, Anne: Journey Through the Night (1960)

Haugaard, Erik C.: The Little Fishes (1967)

Holm, Anne: North to Freedom (1963)    

Levitin, Sonia: Journey to America (1970)

McSwigan, Marie: All Aboard for Freedom!    (1954)

McSwigan, Marie: Snow Treasure (1942)

Savery, Constance: Enemy Brothers (1943)

Senje, Sigurd: Escape! (1964)

Serraillier, Ian: The Silver Sword (1959)

Shemin, Margaretha: The Little Riders (1963)

Stiles, Martha Bennet: Darkness over the Land (1966)

Streatfeild, Noel: When the Sirens Wailed (1974)

Tunis, John: His Enemy, His Friend (1967)

Tunis, John: Silence over Dunkerque (1962)

Van Stockum, Hilda: The Winged Watchman (1962)

Voronkova, L.: Little Girl from the City (1948)

 

Dust Bowl:

 

Cooper, Michael: Dust to Eat (2004)

Gates, Doris: Blue Willow (1940)

Hesse, Karen: Out of the Dust (1997)

 

I love this list and really appreciate it, but did your kids read and love each book? I'm hoping for personal recommendations versus lists.

 

Alley

 

 

[Carol in Cal.]

WWII:

Number the Stars

Exodus by Leon Uris (for the 'older' one)

Do not overlook the excellent biographies of Stalin and Hitler by Marrin--perfect for this age

When My Name Was Keoko

 

 

Depression:

Blue Willow

The Red Velvet Room

 

[ikslo]

The Worst Hard Time : The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan

 

My DS is only 8, and has not read it, but I read it and the whole time I wished I had been taught this stuff in school. :)  I looked it up, and the reading level is given as 7-12 grade, so this might work for you.

 

[Alicia64]

These are AWESOME -- Worst Hard Time, Number the Stars!! -- please keep them coming!

 

You guys are the best!

 

Alley

[Farrar]

Seconding Out of the Dust for the Dust Bowl. There are other Depression titles out there though. I think A Year Down Yonder is a good one - so funny and well written.

 

For WWII, we really enjoyed The Winged Watchman, which might be right for your more sensitive ds. Takes place in Holland. It's an older book and feels a little more old fashioned in pacing and language. There is plenty of tension but only one really sad horrors or war scene where the main character has to go to town and sees the people starving on the side of the road on the way.

 

Number the Stars is, IMO, the best Holocaust book for sensitive kids - it's such an amazing thing that the people did so it's one of the few more unabashed faith in humanity sort of stories out there around this time period while still being about the Holocaust, if removed from the horrors.

 

Seconding When My Name was Keoko for an Asian front book. Also, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes is a good immediate post-war book - short and classic - sad but appropriate for kids.

 

Don't You Know There's a War On is a good homefront book. Also, the second of the Saturdays books has a nice sense of homefront about it, though it's maybe a little younger feeling.

 

The War that Saved My Life is newish and supposed to be very good but I haven't read it yet. It's a British homefront book. Of course, there are a lot of British books that use the evacuation of children as an opening plot point - especially a number of fantasy books like Children of Green Knowe, Tale of Time City, Bedknob and Broomstick, and, of course, the first Narnia book.

 

12 is a funny age for this subject in some ways - between the kid books and the YA books. For your going on 30 ds, he might enjoy reading the young reader's edition of Unbroken. He could tackle Anne Frank's diary. He could potentially read The Book Thief. Maus could be a good classic Holocaust book for him. Joseph Bruchac has a YA novel about the code talkers that's good. There are Walter Dean Myers titles for WWII that are good.

 

In terms of nonfiction, 12 is the perfect age to enjoy Bomb, which was such a good read aloud for us, though just a little complex for my boys at the time. We also really enjoyed The Dust Bowl Through the Lens, which was a good pictorial and narrative history of the Dust Bowl.

[ScoutTN]

The Boys Who Challenged Hitler by Phillip Hoose

2015 publication date, so adding a newer book to the list. :)

Review at RedeemedReader.com

[Tanaqui]

The War that Saved My Life is newish and supposed to be very good but I haven't read it yet. It's a British homefront book. Of course, there are a lot of British books that use the evacuation of children as an opening plot point - especially a number of fantasy books like Children of Green Knowe, Tale of Time City, Bedknob and Broomstick, and, of course, the first Narnia book.

 

I like The War That Saved My Life, although the abusive mother is really a little over-the-top.

 

As for Tale of Time City, an all-time favorite, I suggest that anybody reading anything by DWJ is well-advised to read her online autobiography.

[kathy_overman]

The War that Saved My Life.  My son loved this book (I did too).  It is a little sad, but not upsetting.  The children are moved from a not so nice Mom to a home in the country where they thrive.

[8filltheheart]

I just finished Under a War Torn Sky. It definitely makes you feel the intensity of the war. It might not be appropriate for the sensitive one, but would be for the other. This book is about an American pilot who was shot down and is more about the life of French resistance fighters and their dangers.

[Alicia64]

Seconding Out of the Dust for the Dust Bowl. There are other Depression titles out there though. I think A Year Down Yonder is a good one - so funny and well written.

 

For WWII, we really enjoyed The Winged Watchman, which might be right for your more sensitive ds. Takes place in Holland. It's an older book and feels a little more old fashioned in pacing and language. There is plenty of tension but only one really sad horrors or war scene where the main character has to go to town and sees the people starving on the side of the road on the way.

 

Number the Stars is, IMO, the best Holocaust book for sensitive kids - it's such an amazing thing that the people did so it's one of the few more unabashed faith in humanity sort of stories out there around this time period while still being about the Holocaust, if removed from the horrors.

 

Seconding When My Name was Keoko for an Asian front book. Also, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes is a good immediate post-war book - short and classic - sad but appropriate for kids.

 

Don't You Know There's a War On is a good homefront book. Also, the second of the Saturdays books has a nice sense of homefront about it, though it's maybe a little younger feeling.

 

The War that Saved My Life is newish and supposed to be very good but I haven't read it yet. It's a British homefront book. Of course, there are a lot of British books that use the evacuation of children as an opening plot point - especially a number of fantasy books like Children of Green Knowe, Tale of Time City, Bedknob and Broomstick, and, of course, the first Narnia book.

 

12 is a funny age for this subject in some ways - between the kid books and the YA books. For your going on 30 ds, he might enjoy reading the young reader's edition of Unbroken. He could tackle Anne Frank's diary. He could potentially read The Book Thief. Maus could be a good classic Holocaust book for him. Joseph Bruchac has a YA novel about the code talkers that's good. There are Walter Dean Myers titles for WWII that are good.

 

In terms of nonfiction, 12 is the perfect age to enjoy Bomb, which was such a good read aloud for us, though just a little complex for my boys at the time. We also really enjoyed The Dust Bowl Through the Lens, which was a good pictorial and narrative history of the Dust Bowl.

 

Farrar: You're a treasure -- thank you!

 

Everyone: Thank you so much. I've been ordering like crazy all evening.

 

Also, we just watched Sound of Music. If you have good WWII movies, I'm all ears.

 

You're awesome!

 

Alley

 

 

[FriedClams]

Bomb

Number the Stars

[Alicia64]

Bomb

Number the Stars

 

Can you give me the author of Bomb? Several Bomb books pop up!

 

Thank you!

 

Alley

[justasque]

...

McSwigan, Marie: Snow Treasure (1942)

 

Streatfeild, Noel: When the Sirens Wailed (1974)

 

 

Snow Treasure is appropriate for both kids.  I enjoyed it - have read it several times over the years - I believe it was at first billed as a true story, and it's been walked back a bit from that IIRC, but either way it was a good read.

 

Noel Streatfeild (note it is ei not ie) wrote the Ballet Shoes, Theater Shoes, Circus Shoes, etc. books, as well as others.  I've read quite a bit of her work; some is great and some doesn't hold my interest as well.  I haven't read When the Sirens Wailed.

 

A good movie is the vintage Went The Day Well?, in which a small English town is infiltrated by the enemy.  (Link is to the trailer.)I don't want to spoil the plot,so I'll just say that your less-sensitive child will probably enjoy it, but I'd be careful with the more sensitive one, as there is some killing that might be disturbing.  (Not as graphic as many movies of today, but nonetheless brutal.)  I believe the movie has been on Netflix in the past, and may also be on YouTube.  (ETA - yes, there are two full-length videos of it.)  It was made as a propaganda film.  There's a good review here, but it contains serious spoilers.  From Wikipedia (don't read the article - it contains spoilers) - 

 

In 2010 an article in The Independent(London) commented, "It subtly captures an immemorial quality of English rural life—the church, the local gossip, the sense of community—and that streak of native 'pluck' that people believed would see off Hitler".^[5]

In 2005 it was named as one of the "100 Greatest War Films" in a Channel 4 poll in Britain...

In July 2010, StudioCanal and the British Film Institute National Archive released a restoration of the Went the Day Well? to significant critical acclaim. Tom Huddleston of Time Out (London) termed it "jawdroppingly subversive. Cavalcanti establishes, with loving care and the occasional wry wink, the ultimate bucolic English scene, then takes an almost sadistic delight in tearing it to bloody shreds in an orgy of shockingly blunt, matter-of-fact violence."^[6] When the restored film opened at Film Forum in New York City in 2011, A.O. Scott of The New York Times called it "undeservedly forgotten... [H]ome-front propaganda has rarely seemed so cutthroat or so cunning." ^[

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

A few I've enjoyed.

 

The Endless Steppe - Esther Hautzig

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbitt

The Children of Battleship Row by Joan Zuber Earle (I think this is one of the best Pearl Harbor books; she lived on Ford Island. )

 

Not fiction but very engaging- Pegasus Bridge by Stephen Ambrose.

[Tanaqui]

 

Noel Streatfeild (note it is ei not ie) wrote the Ballet Shoes, Theater Shoes, Circus Shoes, etc. books, as well as others.  I've read quite a bit of her work; some is great and some doesn't hold my interest as well.  I haven't read When the Sirens Wailed.

 

Note: Many of those books have different titles in the UK that aren't "NOUN Shoes".

 

I thought of a fairly good one regarding the Internment in the US, Dash by Kirby Larson. It might be a bit young for your kids, though. And isn't the whole Jar of Dreams series set in that time period?

[Little Nyssa]

 

WWII:

Number the Stars

Exodus by Leon Uris (for the 'older' one)

 

 

 

Depression:

Blue Willow

The Red Velvet Room [end quote]

 

I think you mean The Velvet Room, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder-- I thought of that one too.

[Emerald Stoker]

Mine liked Shirley Hughes's Hero on a Bicycle and Michael Morpurgo's The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips (I've not read these myself, but my kids are fairly sensitive and weren't bothered by them). Also Brian Doyle's Angel Square might work for you (it's set immediately after the war, I think--Christmas '45).

 

Dust Bowl books--do you know WO Mitchell? His Jake and the Kid and Who Has Seen the Wind are the quintessential Canadian kids' books set in the Depression.

[kiwik]

When the Sirens wailed looks at the fact that the enemy are just people like you and is a gentle look at wartime Britain.

 

The Silver Sword I liked at 10 or so I guess so would be fine for the young 12

 

I am David I had read to me when I was 8 at school - 10 to 12 would have been better

 

The 'older' one might like Hitler Youth, I found it interesting but I was an adult before it was published.

[Sahamamama]

Escape from Warsaw/The Silver Sword

Number the Stars

[Emerald Stoker]

Adding a couple more WWII books my kids enjoyed:

Michael Morpurgo's An Elephant in the Garden

Jill Paton Walsh's The Dolphin Crossing

 

And a Depression-era book they liked:

Rachna Gilmore's That Boy Red

[Miss Tick]

Can you give me the author of Bomb? Several Bomb books pop up!

 

Thank you!

 

Alley

You want the one by Steve Sheinkin, Bomb:[the race to build and steal the world's most dangerous weapon]

 

It is good, narrative, non-fiction. We actually did it as a read-aloud, which kept people listening during the slower parts.

[Tanaqui]

Oh, and thought of two Depression books: Bud, Not Buddy and the companion novel, The Mighty Miss Malone.

[Kareni]

Under the Blood-Red Sun (Prisoners of the Empire)  by Graham Salisbury

 

"Tomi was born in Hawaii. His grandfather and parents were born in Japan, and came to America to escape poverty.

 

World War II seems far away from Tomi and his friends, who are too busy playing ball on their eighth-grade team, the Rats.

 

But then Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese, and the United States declares war on Japan. Japanese men are rounded up, and Tomi’s father and grandfather are arrested. It’s a terrifying time to be Japanese in America. But one thing doesn’t change: the loyalty of Tomi’s buddies, the Rats."

 

 

My husband just watched the movie last night and said it was excellent ~  Under the Blood Red Sun,

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[kirstenhill]

Did anyone recommend Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy yet? I big-puffy-heart that one and it was reprinted this year (I have s whole other thread that was recently bumped up on this board about that book!). :-)

[Junie]

From a little bit before the War:

 

Breaking Stalin's Nose -- ds and I both enjoyed this one

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry and The Road to Memphis are both very good.

[aggieamy]

DD just read and adored Code Name Verity.  

 

Snow Treasure is appropriate for both kids.  I enjoyed it - have read it several times over the years - I believe it was at first billed as a true story, and it's been walked back a bit from that IIRC, but either way it was a good read.

 

 

I would recommend you read this one first.  I HATED it.  It read like over the top American propaganda to me.  YMMV though.

[Alicia64]

Hi Everyone!

 

Can we revive this wonderful read aloud list. I'm looking for WWII, Depression and Dustbowl books for 12 year old boys.

 

Thanks!

 

Alley

[tammyw]

The Boy on the Wooden Box. SO incredibly good:

http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Wooden-Box-Impossible-Schindlers/dp/1442497823/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444753588&sr=8-1&keywords=the+boy+on+the+wooden+box

[Tanaqui]

With regards to the Depression, how about Bud, Not Buddy and the companion novel, The Mighty Miss Malone? (You don't need to read both books, and Bud was written first. I know some boys can be weird about female protagonists. If your kids don't have that senseless objection, you might also try Esperanza Rising.)

 

Your boys might also enjoy Code Talker by Bruchac, but I suggest you pre-read. I seem to recall that some scenes were intense, but do you know, for the life of me I can't remember why I think that.

[zoobie]

One of my favorite Depression books is a Nickel's Worth of Skim Milk by Robert Hastings. I haven't read it in years, but I believe he's a Baptist minister (no sex or language IIRC). Ferrol Sams' Run with the Horsemen is one of my all-time favorites. It's hilariously well-written. Maybe some language? Set in the South during the Depression. Both have young boys/men as the lead protagonist, and both are autobiographical to an extent I believe. I read both around 11-12, but I read everything and anything. The Skim Milk was a favorite of my grandmother's, and my stepmother loved Sams.

 

Snow Treasure was one of my dad's favorite childhood books. I loved it too and have his copy. :)

[wonderfilled]

We enjoyed When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (the main character is a girl, but my four boys loved it), I am David, Twenty and Ten (for the younger crowd), and Number the Stars.  I just wrote a post about some of our favorite read-alouds and the first three I mentioned were on the list.  Number the Stars would probably have been too, but we didn't do it as a read-aloud.

 

Snow Treasure is great, too.

[fourisenough]

With regards to the Depression, how about Bud, Not Buddy and the companion novel, The Mighty Miss Malone? (You don't need to read both books, and Bud was written first. I know some boys can be weird about female protagonists. If your kids don't have that senseless objection, you might also try Esperanza Rising.)

 

Your boys might also enjoy Code Talker by Bruchac, but I suggest you pre-read. I seem to recall that some scenes were intense, but do you know, for the life of me I can't remember why I think that.

I heartily recommend the audio book of Bud, Not Buddy narrated by the author (I think it was the author...). We listened to it this summer and all adored it.

[Tanaqui]

I, too, am a fan of Pink Rabbit, which is apparently very true to the author's life.

[spudboy]

One that really stuck with me that I read at about that age was The Good Shepherd by C.S. Forester. Journey of a Allied convoy across the North Atlantic, from the point of view of the US Navy captain in command of the escort ships.

[Alicia64]

Hi Everyone!

 

I would love more suggestions! My library had about half of the above. LOVED and highly recommend Hilter Stole Pink Rabbit, Bomb, Bud Not Buddy, Mighty Miss Malone, Hitler's Nose.

 

The library didn't have the rest. Thinking of buying a few. I started reading the Boy in the Box and thought it was too much. I can't remember why now, but I just thought: yikes. One boys knows all about the concentration camps etc. But doesn't want to hear the horror's details. I get that. Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit only goes into one horrible detail that a parent could skip if they wanted.

 

I'd love more book ideas!

 

Thanks!

 

Alley

[Tanaqui]

Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit only goes into one horrible detail that a parent could skip if they wanted.

 

And with some younger or more sensitive, they might very well want to. I still have the occasional bad dream about it.

 

I think I'm pretty tapped out when it comes to this subject, but if I think of anything else, I'll post it. I'm glad you liked some of the suggestions :)