Book Finder

A companion to Under a War-Torn Sky finds brothers Wesley and Charles adapting to a new culture and rural farm life after being evacuated from England to America only to encounter a Nazi threat to their family in Virginia. 

Alicia was only 13 years old when she began saving Jewish lives in war-ravaged Poland. In this nonfiction account of the Holocaust, Alicia recalls how she stood on her brother’s grave and vowed she would tell his story.

Little did Gerda know that her father’s insistence that she wear her hiking boots one hot, summer day would be her salvation from death. Gerda was able to see good even in the darkest of moments while struggling to survive in several concentration and slave labor camps. From January through April 1945, it was those boots that saved her from the cold during a brutal, 300-mile death march from a labor camp in western Germany to Czechoslovakia where she was the only one of 120 women who survived.

A thrilling, multi-perspective novel, this time centered around D-Day. D-Day, June 6, 1944: the most expansive military endeavor in history. No less than world cooperation would bring down Hitler and the Axis powers. And so people — and kids — across the globe lent their part. From the young US soldiers in the boats to spies in the French countryside, the coordination of thousands came together. Alan Gratz, author of the New York Times bestselling Refugee, explores the necessity of teamwork and heroism in dismantling tyranny in this epic, yet personal, look at D-Day in time for the 75th anniversary of the operation.

Rachek always begs her Grandmother Oma to tell the story of Oma’s two lives: the one before American and the one after. The first part recounts her marriage prior to World War I and then her family’s move from Poland to Germany to seek safety. Ironically, two of her three daughters spent time in concentration camps but all survived and were reunited in the United States. The illustrations really add to readers’ understanding of this horrible time in history.

Mowat retells his own experiences as a young soldier during World War II. At first he was very idealistic and romanticized the war effort but after exposure to many atrocities, Farley grows and learns painfully to see war as it is.

The authors have adapted their 1998 play of the same title into this easy-to-read novel where Nicole Burns, a contemporary 10th-grade student who questions why they have to read The Diary of Anne Frank, is mysteriously transported in time into the person of Nicole Bernhardt, a 15-year-old Jewish girl living in occupied France. Nicole meets Anne Frank who helps her see the value of studying the Holocaust as she returns as Nicole Burns.

Boas was born in the Westerbork Concentration Camp in Holland and writes this book from five teenage perspectives he found in reading their diaries: David Rubinowicz, Yitzhak Rudashevski, Moshe Flinker, Eva Heyman, and Anne Frank. As Boas points out, “alongside the other four diaries, Anne’s looks different than when you read it by itself as the sole voice of the Holocaust.”

The author was only six years old when the Nazis invaded Poland. She and her mother go into hiding with the help of some Gentiles, but their hiding place happens to be next door to the Gestapo headquarters. For the two years they are in hiding, Nelly records her fears, hopes, and dreams through art and in a journal.

A German teen is jailed for treason after publishing leaflets that expose Hitler’s lies.

This nonfiction book is carefully researched and includes photos and source notes to add to its credibility. It is fascinating to see how Hitler managed to brainwash children into doing things totally contrary to their parents’ values.

As a measure of safety, 13-year-old Lisette Beaucaire is sent away from her home in Nazi-occupied Paris to live with an aunt in the country. Disappointed she won’t be with her friends to start a new school year, Lisette is disconcerted about having nothing to do but spend time with her annoying cousin, Cecile. She quickly realizes, however, that her time in the country will be anything but ordinary when she discovers that her aunt is hiding Jewish and Gypsy children from the Nazis. In addition to preparing for the day the Germans come looking for them, she meets Gerard, the ghost of a 14th-century knight, who ends up playing a significant role in the outcome of this story.

When the Nazis invaded Denmark on Tuesday, April 9, 1940, the people of this tiny country to the north of Germany awoke to a devastating surprise. The government of Denmark surrendered quietly, and the Danes were ordered to go about their daily lives as if nothing had changed. But everything had changed.

From Hitler Youth to hunted “mischling,” Daniel’s world unravels when he discovers his mother’s hidden history “taints” him with Jewish blood and marks him for extermination.

Twelve-year-old David has only known life in a concentration camp in Eastern Europe. When the opportunity to escape presents itself, David seizes it and then begins his journey to Denmark and freedom. Walden Media made a movie of this book, originally published in Denmark in 1963, by the same name in 2004. Since then, it has been mass marketed to educators. For teaching materials, visit their website.

Pam Munoz Ryan weaves together three stories of young people living through a tumultuous period in the 20th century: 12-year-old Friedrich Schmidt in 1933 Germany, as the Nazi Party gains momentum; orphaned 11-year-old Mike Flannery in 1935 Philadelphia during the Depression; and Ivy Maria Lopez living in Southern California in 1942 as World War II rages. Their stories revolve around a single Hohner Marine Band harmonica and are framed by a tale of a lost boy, three sisters, and a witch’s curse.

Blond-haired and blue-eyed Marisa loses her family at the hand of the Nazis when the Germans invade Poland. With the papers of a Christian Polish girl, she disguises her identity and goes to work as a servant for a Nazi family. As she spends more time and becomes closer with the family, she has to answer some tough questions about her basic beliefs of humanity.

As a youth, Kertesz spent one year in Auschwitz and so develops this novel about a 14-year-old Hungarian boy’s ability to see beauty even in a horrific concentration camp. Publisher’s Weekly called its prequel Fateless one of the best 50 books in 1992 and this one won him a Nobel Prize.

Five-year-old Marion Blumenthal and her family left Germany and went to Holland in an attempt to travel to America to escape the Nazis. Unfortunately, their ship was delayed three months and the Germans invaded Holland. The Blumenthals became a bargaining chip for the Nazis who wanted German POWs. They are deported to Bergen Belsen, where Marion, clinging to the hope that one day they would all be freed together, collects four pebbles from the camp to symbolize the members of her family. This riveting memoir is a story of determination and survival under the most dire of circumstances.

This ALA Best Book for Young Adults is the true, heart-wrenching, and unforgettable story of the author’s experiences at Auschwitz during the Holocaust. The reader will be shocked by the atrocities and the horror that she faced but will be moved by her courage and willpower to survive.

Piri, now 17, resides with a Swedish family while she searches for news of family and friends who also might have survived the Nazi concentration camps. Although the Swedes accept her as their own daughter, she strives to hold on to her own identity and dreams of finding her blood relatives. The novel is dedicated to the many people who assisted the Jews in their efforts to find their families after the war.

The compelling memoir of Irene Gut Opdyke, a Polish girl who risked her life to save her Jewish friends during World War II.

Livia Bitton-Jackson a.ka. Elli Friedmann, was only 13 years old when the Nazis invaded Hungary. She recounts her struggle to survive with her mother, first in the ghetto, then in the Plaszow Concentration Camp (the one shown in Stephen Spielberg movie, Schindler’s List), and then while working in a factory in Augsburg.

How were otherwise kind, intelligent teenagers drawn into an organization like the Hitler Youth? This well-researched and well-documented book examines the rise of the Nazi party and its sway over teens. Using primary sources, including interviews, the author features the stories of several teens who came of age during Hitler’s years of power.