Boynton Middle School Library
Recommended World War II Historical Fiction
with a focus on books taking place overseas
For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Genre(s): HISTORICAL FICTION -- FRANCE/WAR
A novel based on the experiences of Suzanne David Hall, who, as a teenager in Nazioccupied France, worked as a spy for the French Resistance while training to be an opera
singer.
F BRA
War Games: A Novel Based on a True Story
by Audrey Couloumbis & Akila Couloumbis
Genre(s): HISTORICAL FICTION -- GREECE/WAR
What were once just boys’ games become matters of life and death as Petros and his older
brother Zola each wonder if, like their resistance-fighter cousin, they too can make a
difference in a Nazi-occupied Greece.
F COU
Under a War-Torn Sky
by L.M. Elliott
Genre(s): HISTORICAL FICTION -- FRANCE/WAR
After his plane is shot down by Hitler’s Luftwaffe, nineteen-year-old Henry Forester of
Richmond, Virginia, strives to walk across occupied France, with the help of the French
Resistance, in hopes of rejoining his unit.
F ELL
Catch-22
by Joseph Heller
Genre(s): HISTORICAL FICTION -- ITALY/WAR
Presents a classic edition of the 1961 satire of military bureaucracy, focusing on the story of
John Yossarian, a bombadier in World War II who is trying to avoid getting killed while at
the same time dealing with a colonel who keeps upping the number of missions he must fly.
F HEL
Hero on a Bicycle
by Shirley Hughes
Genre(s): HISTORICAL FICTION -- ITALY/WAR/ADVENTURE
With the city of Florence, Italy under heavy Nazi occupation, thirteen-year-old Paolo is
confronted by the anti-Nazi movement and Paolo must figure out if he has what it takes to
be a hero.
F HUG
compiled by Annarose Foley, Teacher-Librarian (February 2015)
Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry
Genre(s): HISTORICAL FICTION -- DENMARK/WAR
In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to
be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
F LOW
The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips
by Michael Morpurgo
Genre(s): HISTORICAL FICTION -- ENGLAND/WAR/ANIMALS
When Boowie reads the diary that his grandmother sends him, he learns of her childhood in
World War II England when American and British soldiers practiced for D-Day’s invasion
in the area of her home, and about her beloved cat, Adolphus Tip, and the cat’s namesake.
F MOR
Invasion
by Walter Dean Myers
Genre(s): HISTORICAL FICTION -- FRANCE/WAR
F MYE
Josiah Wedgewood and Marcus Perry were friends in Virginia, but now that they are both
involved in the Normandy invasion, the differences in their positions is uncomfortable, for
Josiah is a white infantryman and Marcus is a black transport driver, the only role the
segregated army will allow him.
Between Shades of Gray
by Ruta Sepetys
Genre(s): HISTORICAL FICTION -- LITHUANIA/HISTORICAL FICTION – RUSSIA/WAR
F SEP
In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their Lithuanian
home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison
camp while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers
by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil. Based on the author’s family, includes a
historical note.
Code Name Verity
by Elizabeth Wein
Genre(s): HISTORICAL FICTION -- FRANCE/WAR/MYSTERY/ADVENTURE
In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and the survivor tells a tale
of friendship, war, espionage, and great courage as she relates what she must to survive
while keeping secret all that she can.
F WEI
compiled by Annarose Foley, Teacher-Librarian (February 2015)