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Historical Novels and Picture Books for
World War II -- Dr. Seuss and More

Historical Novels and Picture Books for World War II  -- Dr. Seuss and More

Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) is one of the most beloved authors/illustrators and most readers know him as an author of children's books.  But Geisel also was an award winning film producer.  During World War II he produced films for the military.  One of his films, Your Job in Germany was later released by Warner Brothers for the public under the title of Hitler Lives.  Geisel won an Academy Award in 1945 for the best documentary short subject of the year.  Two years later he won another Academy Award for best documentary feature for Design for Death, a history of the Japanese people, written in collaboration with Helen Palmer Geisel (his wife).  After three years with the army, Geisel left the army as a lieutenant colonel and resumed his writer's career.

Historians agree that Geisel set out to moralize in only two of his many books.  Yertle the Turtle is a parable on Hitler.  Horton Hears a Who is a message for all people.  The tiny Whos symbolize the Japanese people, defeated in war and now seeking their own democracy.  all people can listen to his lesson summed up in one line from the book, "A person is a person no matter how small."  These stories were possibly an outgrowth of the work Geisel did in producing Design for Death in 1947.

Since Geisel's parodies many other writers have written books about events during World War II.

Adolph Hitler became chancellor of Germany  less than three months later he was the country's dictator.  World War II began in the European countries in 1939 and soon involved Japan and other powers.  The United States did not enter the war until being bombed by the Japanese on December 7, 1941.  The war ended officially in 1945.

When the Germans invaded Paris France, many French fled the city. Among those fleeing were Margret and H.A. Rey. They peddled to the border on their bicycles with only a few clothes and the manuscript of what was to become Curious George. Their amazing story is told in The Journey That Saved Curious George by Louise Borden (Illustrated by Allan Drummond; Houghton Mifflin, 2005).  More about the book (online) at Houghton Mifflin's site.

Picture Books

• Adler, David A. (1998) Hiding from the Nazis.  Holiday House--”A fictionalized account of Lore Baer and her parents who send the four-year-old off to non-Jewish farmers in the hope that they will protect her.
  
  
• Amis, Nancy. (2003) The Orphans of Normandy: A True Story of World War II Told Through Drawings by Children. Atheneum--”100 orphans walk miles over several days to seek safety after D-day. Illustrated with drawings by the children and text in French (from the journals of the orphans) and translated into English.
  
  
• Hesse, Karen. (2004) The Cats in Krasinski Square.  Illustrated by Wendy Watson. Scholastic--”A little known story of Jewish resistance: young children who have escaped the Ghetto deploy stray cats to take the dogs away from the food being smuggled into Warsaw on the trains.

• Borden, Louise. (2002) The Greatest Skating Race.  Simon & Schuster.--”Set in Netherlands, a young boy helps Joop and his older sister, Johanna, skate past the soldiers to freedom in Belgium.

• Deedy, Carmen Agra. (2000) The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark.  Peachtree.--”Not fact, but true in spirit as many Danes tried to save their Jewish neighbors.  But neither Jews or non-Jews were mandated to wear a star. (See website cited for more information).

• Hoestlandt, Jo. (1996)  Star of Fear, Star of Hope.  Illustrated by Johanna Kang.  Walker.--”Occupation of France."
  
  
• Houston, Gloria. (1992)  But No Candy. Illustrated by Lloyd Bloom. Philomel.--”Slowing she realizes that
  
  
• Mochizuki, Ken. (1993) Baseball Saved Us.  Illustrated by Dom Lee.  Lee & Low Books. --”The Japanese forced to internment camps (in the USA) finds some relief in the game of baseball.
  
  
  

Nelson, S. D. (2006)  Quiet Hero: The Ira Hayes Story.  Lee & Low.  — Ira Hayes was a Pima Indian and a Marine during World War II, who helped to raise the flag on Iwo Jima.  After his return from the war Hayes struggled to adjust to civilian life.

• Polacco, Patricia. (2000) The Butterfly.  Philomel. --The author's aunt's story is the basis for this tale of the Nazis in Germany.
  
• Stevenson, James. (1992) Don't You Know There's a War On.  Greenwillow.--”Scenes from the home front."
  

History in Story (World War II)

Every period of history has stories. These stories help readers perceive past events and issues and to develop historical empathy. Knowing about the past also helps readers to appreciate the collective set of judgments about the past, and avoid the temptation to repeat history with ill-conceived solutions to present-day events.

• Bruchac, Joseph. (2005) Code Talker: A Novel About The Navajo Marines of World War II by Joseph Bruchac (Dial)--”Navajos develop an unbreakable code and play an important role in the war effort.  (240 pgs; grades 5-10)
  
  
• Kadohata, Cynthia. (2006) Weedflower.  Atheneum--Japanese Internment on the Mohave. (272 pgs; grades 5-8)
  
  
• Mazer, Harry.  (2001) A Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing--”Set in Honolulu, a 14-year-old witnesses the chaos and prejudice that follows. (104 pgs; grades 5-9)
  
  
• Oriev, Uri. (2003) Run, Boy, Run. Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books--”A young boy escapes the Nazis across the Polish countryside. (192 pgs; grades 4-7)
  
  
• Park, Linda Sue. (2002)  My Name Was Keoko.  Clarion--Two siblings, in alternating chapters, tell of the Japanese occupation of South Korea in the years preceding World War II. (208 pgs; grades 4-7)
• Roy, Jennifer.  (2006) The Yellow Star.  Marshall Cavendish. -- Based on the experiences of Roy's aunt who was imprisoned in he Polish ghetto for six years.  She was one of a dozen children to survive. (Verse novel)
  
  
• Salisbury, Graham. (2005) Eyes of the Emperor.  Wendy Lamb Books--”Eddie Okubo, a 16-year-old, lies about his age to enlist in the U.S. Army and finds that racism is strong even in the military. (240 pgs; grades 7-10)
  
  
• Spinelli, Jerry. (2003) Milkweed.  Knopf--”A Warsaw orphan's life in the ghetto but he comes to realize what many adults don't -- when the trains come, the passengers are not being taken to resettlement villages. (224 pgs; grades 4-7)
  
  
• Zusak, Markus. (2006) The Book Thief. Alfred A. Knopf. -- Narrated by "Death" -- the story of  Liesel, a young German girl who sustains her family and the Jewish man they are hiding through book stealing and story telling.
  

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