World War 2

One Day

Sophie Rosen , , ,

Rosen, Michael. One Day: A True Story of the Survival in the Holocaust. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Studio, an imprint of Candlewick Press, 2025.

Probably all of us can think back to day when everything changed, a day when our lives took a new direction. In this true story, Eugene Handschuh recalls a day when he and his father were arrested by the Paris police and handed over to the occupying Nazis. He describes being sent to a prison camp, being part of a team of prisoners secreting digging a tunnel, being caught, being sent to another camp but escaping from the train and returning to Paris to rejoin the Resistance. Told from the first person point of view and hauntingly illustrated by Benjamin Phillips, this powerful picture book by a renowned storyteller will be long remembered. Unreservedly recommended for thoughtful readers 10 years old and up.

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Tree Table Book

Sophie Rosen , ,

Lowry, Lois. Tree. Table. Book. New York: Clarion Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2024.
Eleven-year-old Sophia and eighty-eighty-year-old Sophie are best friends. They enjoy drinking tea, listening to music, playing games, and talking about life. But Sophia is becoming increasingly forgetful, and despite Sophie’s attempts to help, eventually it becomes it becomes unsafe for her beloved friend to remain in her own home. Anyone who has known someone with dementia will understand Sophie’s anxiety as she tries to help Sophia pass a cognitive test. Anyone who has read about World War 2 will understand the significance of Sophia’s stories of childhood in Poland. Heart-breaking and heart-warming, this extraordinarily well-written novel by a multiple-award-winning author is highly recommended for readers from 9 to 90 years old.

P.S. Something else makes this story extraordinary: despite being told from the point of view of an eleven-year-old girl, it also quietly reveals the inner life of an elderly woman and leads to thought-provoking questions: What is more important: remembering the mundane minutiae of daily life or remembering the significant stories of the past?  Who will remember our stories when we have passed and have we told them to anyone?

Another story about dementia 

Stories of World War 2

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The Sky Over Rebecca

Sophie Rosen , , , , ,

Fox, Matthew. The Sky Over Rebecca. New York: Union Square Kids, 2023.
Is it possible for people who have died to appear and ask us for help? Could it be possible to go back in time and change the future? What gives us the courage to challenge a bully? In this 140-page story set in winter, Kara follows footsteps in the snow outside her home in Stockholm to discover a 13-year old girl hiding with her younger brother. They are Jewish refugees and in their world, it is 1944. How can Kara help them when she can hardly keep herself safe? An award-winning novel, beautifully written and highly recommended for thoughtful readers 10 to 14 years old.

How to recognize great writing

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A Year of Borrowed Men

Sophie Rosen , , ,

Barker, Michelle. A Year of Borrowed Men. Toronto: Pajama Press, 2015.
Another brilliantly written story by the award-winning Michelle Barker. Set in World War 2 and based on her mother’s childhood, this picture book tells the story of three French prisoners of war sent to help on a farm in Germany. Despite the dangers from spying neighbours and stern policemen, the family treats the prisoners with care and kindness until the end of the war. Told from the point of view of a seven-year-old girl, there are bits of ironic humour that only older readers will notice: the village police officer is known for having become someone to fear; the invading Russians open all the barn doors and set even the animals free, leaving the family without any cows for milk and butter. The flowing language, the font of the text, and the design of the pages combine to create a story ideal for reading aloud. Tenderly illustrated in water colour and coloured pencils by the award-winning artist Renné Benoit and supplemented by an afterword and five black-and-white photographs, this picture book is highly recommended for readers 7 years old and up.

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My Long List of Impossible Things

Sophie Rosen , , ,

Barker, Michelle. My Long List of Impossible Things. Toronto: Annick Press, 2020.
The second world war is ending in Germany, but that does not mean safety for Katja’s family. The Soviets are invading. Katja’s father has already been long gone, killed in the war, so Katya, her older sister Hilde, and their mother are on their own, travelling by foot through forests and along dangerous roads, seeking refuge farther west.
Told from the first person point of view of Katya, a teenager who tends to speak impulsively and frequently unwisely, this extraordinary story provides a glimpse of life after the war. All the complexities, all the dangers, are vividly portrayed by an award-winning Canadian writer. Due to some of the language and some of the scenes, this novel is most suitable for readers 13 years of age and older. Highly recommended for adult readers, as well as teenagers.

Teachers: this is an excellent novel for analyzing character development. It would also be greatly enjoyed as a small group novel as it would be sure to provoke discussion.

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Village of Scoundrels

Sophie Rosen , , , , ,

Preus, Margi. Village of Scoundrels: Based on a True Story of Courage during WWII. New York: Amulet Books, 2021.

During World War 2, brave villagers in Les Lauzes, France shelter refugees and the people leading them to safety in Switzerland. This quickly-paced novel does not hide the brutality of the Nazi occupiers. Danger is ever present. But there is also humour and joy and hope among the children and young adults setting out to fool the German Gestapo. Includes an epilogue with photographs and biographies of what happened to the real people in the story. Highly recommended for readers 11 to 14 years of age. 

More stories set in France

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A Bowl Full of Peace

Sophie Rosen ,

Stelson, Caren.  A Bowl Full of Peace: A True Story. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2020.
Sachiko was six years old on August 9, 1945 when an atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. War had already come to Japan. People were already going hungry from lack of food and hiding in air raid shelters built into the hillsides. When the bomb dropped, one of Sachiko’s brothers was killed, and the rest of the family became ill and slowly started dying of radiation sickness. Sachiko’s remaining family members continued to gather around grandmother’s bowl every evening – just as they had before the war – to offer thanks for their food. But once a year, they instead filled the bowl with ice and – as it melted – also prayed for peace. This quietly heart-breaking story of courage, poignantly illustrated by Akira Kusaka, is highly recommended for readers seven years old and up.

Stories of World War 1

Stories of World War 2

Stories of conflicts after WW2

Stories of conflicts before WW1

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P.S. Writers – and teachers of writing – notice how the story is written in present tense even though it really happened long ago. How does that make the story more powerful? How does it help readers – and listeners – enter the story? Notice, as well, how the story starts with the bowl passed from mother to daughter. How can this family custom help readers identify with the characters in the story? Notice how sight and sound, taste and touch, are all part of the story. Notice the use of repeated words and phrases, the use of short sentences for emphasis, and how the few spoken sentences in quotations summarize the whole story.