The Giant Print Library
Topic list - Second
World War
Updated: April 2013
Age ranges: Up to 13+
Any UK member of our library service
may borrow up to a maximum of 6
books per service for a 3 month loan
period.
Most of the books have been produced
by the National Blind Children's
Society and are in 24 point type with
identical covers to the ordinary print
versions of the books.
Logo – RNIB supporting blind and partially sighted people
Registered charity number 226227
rnib.org.uk
Please be aware that due to their size,
many of the books are split into two or
more volumes, and these will have the
same covers.
For details on borrowing any of the
titles listed or for further information
regarding the Giant Print collection
please contact Liz Farrell or Hazel
Sharrock, Children's Librarians at
RNIB National Library Service on 0161
429 1975.
Second World War
Bawden, Nina
Carrie's war. 1993. 1v. Suggested
reading age 11+.
Evacuated from London to Wales
during the Second World War, Carrie
and her brother are sent to live with
the very strict Mr Evans. But in trying
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to heal the breach between Mr Evans
and his estranged sister, Carrie does
the worst thing she ever did in her life.
Boyne, John.
The boy in the striped pyjamas.
2006. 1v. Suggested reading age
13+.
Nine-year-old Bruno knows nothing of
the Final Solution and the Holocaust.
Then he meets Shmuel, a boy who
lives on the other side of the adjoining
wire fence and who, like the other
people there, wears a uniform of
striped pyjamas. Bruno's friendship
with Shmuel will take him from
innocence to revelation.
Burgess, Melvin.
An angel for May. 1994. 2v.
Suggested reading age 13+.
Tam often takes refuge in the ruins of
Thowt It Farm when he is unhappy at
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home. One day he follows an old
beggar woman and her dog to the farm
and is transported back to the Second
World War. There he makes friends
with May who tries to persuade him to
stay at Thowt It, but Tam is afraid of
being permanently trapped in the past.
Cormier, Robert.
Heroes. 1999. 1v. Suggested
reading age 13+.
Maimed and disfigured whilst fighting
in the war, young Francis Cassavant
must hide both his face and his identity
when he goes back home. For his past
holds a bitter secret.
Cross, Vince.
Blitz : a wartime girl's diary,
1940-1941. 2008. 1v. Suggested
reading age 9+.
Part of the My Story series. It's 1940
and with London under fire Edie and
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her little brother are evacuated to
Wales. Miles from home and missing
her family, Edie is torn between
obeying her parents and protecting her
brother.
Dahl, Roald.
Going solo. 1988. 2v. Suggested
reading age 9+.
Sequel to Boy. This second part of
Roald Dahl's autobiography creates a
world as bizarre and unnerving as
anyone will find in his fiction. An
evocation of his wartime exploits, it
tells of African safaris and deadly
snakes; of fighter planes and air
battles with the enemy during World
War 2.
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Deary, Terry.
The blitzed Brits. 1994. 1v.
Suggested reading age 9+.
Part of the Horrible Histories series.
This is history with the nasty bits left in.
What really happened to Dad's army?
Want to know how to make a rude
noise with a gas mask? This book
provides spiffing slang, foul food facts
about rotten rationing, and the terrible
facts about London's bloodthirsty
blackout murderer.
Deary, Terry.
Woeful Second World War. 2007.
1v. Suggested reading age 9+.
Part of the Horrible Histories series. If
you want to hear the dreadful truth
about Dad's Army, or how sweet
rationing drove a teacher to steal from
his pupils, or what happened when an
elephant got loose in the blackout, the
full foul facts about life on the home
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front are laid out before your ears. It's
packed with quizzes, sketches and
jokes, as well as mini-dramas and real
life re-enactments - telling you the kind
of foul facts which just aren't available
from a classroom education!
Fowke, Bob.
World War II. 1997. 1v. Suggested
reading age 9+.
Did you know that Adolf Hilter wasn't,
in fact, German? The Second World
War brought horror and heartache to
millions of people all over the globe,
and it turned everyday living upside
down too. Any history book will give
you the boring facts they think you
should know, but only this one will tell
you what life during World War II was
really like ...
rnib.org.uk
Frank, Anne.
The diary of a young girl. 1998.
3v. Suggested reading age 13+.
In July 1942, thirteen year old Anne
Frank and her family fled from the
horrors of Nazi occupation, and went
into hiding in an Amsterdam
warehouse. Over the next two years
Anne vividly describes in her diary the
frustration of living in such confined
quarters.
Geras, Adele.
A candle in the dark. 1995. 1v.
Suggested reading age 9+.
Germany, 9th November, 1938. After
the horrors of this night, when Nazi
storm troopers destroyed all the
synagogues and Jewish property,
Clara needs all her courage. She and
her little brother, Maxi, must leave
behind everything they know, and go
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to England to live with a family they
have never met.
Gleitzman, Morris.
Once. 2006. 1v. Suggested
reading age 9+.
Book 1 of the Felix and Zelda series.
Then and Now are also available. Felix
has lives in a convent orphanage high
in the mountains in Poland, but he is
convinced his parents are still alive
and will come back to get him. When a
group of Nazi soldiers come and burn
the nuns' books, Felix is terrified that
his Jewish, bookseller parents will also
be in danger. After escaping from the
orphanage, Felix embarks on a long
and dangerous journey through Nazi
occupied Poland, befriending a little
orphan girl called Zelda and a kindly
dentist, Barney, who hides and cares
for Jewish children.
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Hartnett, Sonya
The midnight zoo. 2010. 1v.
Suggested reading age 13+.
Under the cover of darkness, two
brothers cross a war-ravaged
countryside carrying a secret bundle.
One night they stumble across a
deserted town reduced to smouldering
ruins. But at the end of a blackened
street they find a small green miracle:
a zoo filled with animals in need of
hope.
Hearn, Julie
Rowan the strange. 2009. 2v.
Suggested reading age 13+.
As the second World War begins,
Rowan is diagnosed as schizophrenic
and sent away to a hospital where the
latest treatments are available. But the
treatments are experimental still - and
nobody predicts the effect they will
have on Rowan.
rnib.org.uk
Hughes, Shirley.
The lion and the unicorn. 2000.
1v. Suggested reading age 5+.
As Lenny's father goes off to fight in
World War II he gives his son a brass
badge with a lion and a unicorn on it.
Lenny keeps it with him when the
bombs are dropped on his street and
when he has to be evacuated to a big
house in the country.
Ibbotson, Eva.
The dragonfly pool. 2009. 3v.
Suggested reading age 9+.
Tally Hamilton is furious to hear she is
being sent from London to a horrid,
stuffy boarding school in the
countryside. And all because of the
stupid war. But Delderton Hall is a far
more interesting place than Tally ever
imagined, and an exciting school trip to
the beautiful and luscious kingdom of
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Bergania whisks Tally into an
unexpected adventure.
Kerr, Judith.
When Hitler stole pink rabbit.
1971. 2v. Suggested reading age
11+.
When Anna's father flees Germany in
the dead of the night, it is a matter of
life and death to keep it secret. Two
weeks later on the eve of the Nazis
coming to power, Anna, her brother
Max, and their mother secretly join him
in Switzerland. It is the beginning of
their adventures.
Magorian, Michelle.
Goodnight Mister Tom. 1981. 2v.
Suggested reading age 11+
A touching story of the friendship that
developed between a small, unhappy
boy and the gruff lonely man on whom
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he was billeted at the outbreak of the
war.
Morpurgo, Michael.
The amazing story of Adolphus
Tips. 2006. 1v. Suggested
reading age 11+.
A heart-warming tale of courage and
warmth, set against the backdrop of
the Second World War, about an
abandoned village, a lifelong friendship
and one very adventurous cat!
Morpurgo, Michael.
Friend or foe. 2007. 1v.
Suggested reading age 7+.
During the Second World War, David
and his friend Tucky are evacuated to
the countryside. One night they see a
German plane crash on the moors.
They feel they should hate the airmen
inside, but can they just leave them to
die?
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Morpurgo, Michael
Little Manfred. 2011. 1v.
Suggested reading age 9+.
In the Imperial War Museum is a
wooden Dachshund, carved by a
German prisoner of war for the
children of the British family with which
he stayed after the fighting ended. This
is the story of how it got there! When
the Bismarck sinks, one of the only
German survivors is taken on board a
British ship as a prisoner of war. Sent
to live with a host family, Walter must
adapt to a new way of life, in the heart
of an enemy country. Gradually,
though, he finds a friend in ten-yearold Grace…
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Serraillier, Ian.
The silver sword. 1956. 1v.
Suggested reading age 11+.
Although the silver sword was only a
paper knife, it became the symbol of
hope and courage which kept four
deserted children alive through the
years of occuption, and afterwards on
the exhausting and dangerous journey
from war-torn Poland to Switzerland,
where they hoped to find their parents.
Swindells, Robert.
Blitzed. 2003. 1v. Suggested
reading age 11+.
Imagine being alive before your
parents were born! George is
fascinated by World War Two
bombers, Nazis, doodlebugs. Even
evacuation and rationing has got to be
more exciting than living in dreary old
Witchfield!
rnib.org.uk
Turnbull, Ann.
Josie under fire. 2004. 1v.
Suggested reading age 9+.
Part of the historical house series.
London is suffering from the Blitz and
the country is gripped by patriotic
fervour. Josie finds it hard to
understand her brother's decision to be
a conscientious objector, especially as
it causes trouble for their family. But
when she moves to a new school and
gets drawn into tormenting one of her
classmates, Josie learns what it
means to stand up for her own beliefs.
Woodcock, Sandra.
Anne Frank. 1998. 1v. Suggested
reading age 11+.
Part of the Livewire series with a
teenage/adult interest level for those
with reading ages below 10 yrs. A
more basic biography of Anne Frank.