World War II Middle Grade

From one of the greatest tragedies in world history...comes a lot of really good middle grade novels. From evacuated London children to the Japanese American incarceration camps, these nine books give many perspectives on World War II.

 

The Swallows' Flight by Hilary McKay

Four children. Two countries. One war.

Ruby and Kate in England, Ruby with the birth marks on her face and Kate with the everlasting illnesses. Erik and Hans in Germany, Erik with his love for animals and Hans with his love for cooking. None of these children expected to be caught up in the middle of a world war. Ruby and Kate never expected their families to be torn apart by the violence that spreads over Europe, and Erik and Hans never expected to be flying with the German army, their instructions being to kill. The story of how these four children find each other and their places in the middle of a world war is at once heartwarming and tear jerking.

 

The Journey to Topaz by Yoshiko Uchida

After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, eleven-year-old Yuki's family is forced to relocate from their home in California and travel hundreds of miles to a Japanese American concentration camp in Utah. Fenced in and unable to leave, Yuki and her family experience illness, loss, and community, struggling to keep their heads up until they will be released. 

 

A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus

When William, Edmund, and Anna's grandmother dies in 1940, none of them are overly distraught. After all, their grandmother never really cared for them. But with their parents and now grandmother dead, the children need someone to look after them. So they hatch a plan: follow the evacuation that is taking children away from war-torn London and into temporary homes in the countryside. Maybe William, Edmund, and Anna will find a forever home there. 

As the children move from one foster home to another, none of which even mildly resemble the home they want, the children find solace in the village library, where the friendly librarian is always there for them. The children even start to wonder if the librarian could take them in--but her husband is a German soldier, and the rest of the English village shuns her for it. Will the children ever find a real home?

 

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley

Ada has lived all her life in the tiny London apartment where her mother, ashamed and humiliated of Ada's club foot, keeps her imprisoned. Ada dreams of venturing into the outside world, so when her little brother Jamie is rounded up with the rest of London's children to evacuate during World War II, Ada seizes the chance and escapes with him. 

Ada and Jamie are fostered by Susan Smith, a hard-on-the-outside soft-on-the-inside woman who learns to love Ada and Jamie as the war progresses. As Ada learns to read, ride a pony, and keep a lookout for German spies, her trust in Susan grows. But as time passes, and Ada and Jamie's mother gets in contact with Susan, Ada is afraid that her mother will steal her back and keep her locked up forever.

 

Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan

When Otto finds himself lost in the forest with only a mysterious book and an old harmonica, he meets three mysterious sisters and discovers that somehow, their destinies are entwined within that very harmonica.

Years later, three musical children--Friedrich in Hitler Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California--discover the harmonica and become a step in the instrument's journey.

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

As World War II begins, Anne Frank and her Jewish family flee their home in Holland and hide out in an annex of an old building with another family. Anne's family, though avoiding the violence faced by other Jews, are faced with years of close-quartered confinement with only their thoughts for company. Anne records all of her experiences, faults, and fears in her diary, which was published by her father after her death in a concentration camp in 1945. 

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Annemarie Johansen and her best friend, Ellen Rosen, weren't ready for a war to endanger Ellen's life and force her to move into hiding. With Ellen to be a part of the Johansen family, however, she still isn't safe; and Annemarie is called upon to make a dangerous journey to protect Ellen's life. Will she have the courage to stand up to the Nazis in order to save her best friend?

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

On February 19, 1942, F.D. Roosevelt signed the order forcing all Japanese Americans on the west coast to leave their homes and travel hundreds of miles to desert detention centers, where they were to wait out the war. George Takei's family was one of the thousands that was forced to leave their home and live in first a horse stable, and then barracks, surrounded by barbed wire. These people were suspected of being enemy aliens just because of their ethnicity. In a stunning graphic memoir, George Takei recounts his experience as a child in the camps, and how they affected him for the rest of his life. 

White Bird by R.J. Palacio

Expanding on a story introduced in the Wonder companion Auggie and Me, White Bird is the story of Julian's grandmother's experience as a Jew during World War II. As all the Jews in her French village are being rounded up, Sara escapes and finds refuge hidden in the barn of a non-Jewish classmate at school. Protected by the family of the disabled boy who Sara and her classmates always shunned, Sara finds that kindness is truly the only way to get out of a war. 

 

Cover images from Amazon and Scholastic.