Book Review - The War Outside

📖Recommend for Grades 9 and up📖

The War Outside

by Monica Hesse

It’s 1944, and Japanese-American Haruko, her sister, and their mother are voluntarily heading to Crystal City to be reunited with their father/husband. Crystal City is unique as this WWII internment camp is for both Japanese and German families. German-American Margot is attending the federal school at the camp because the German school doesn’t have certified teachers, and it’s there she and Haruko meet. The pair forms an unlikely friendship, but complications at the camp make things even more complicated than just being different.

This book is an intriguing story of family, friendship, and betrayal that will have readers wondering what happens next. While Haruko and Margot’s stories are fictional, Crystal City was a real place, and some events did happen. Readers will get an eye-opening look at life during WWII for Japanese-American and German-Americans through this great fictional lens. Haruko and Margot are both intriguing characters, as is their individual and combined stories. 

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Book Review - Lovely War

📖Recommend for Grades 9 and up📖

Lovely War

by Julie Berry

It’s 1942, and a stylish couple makes their way into a hotel room where the Greek God Hephaestus finds them. It turns out; the couple are Greek Gods as well, Aphrodite and Ares, to be exact. Hephaestus is not happy to see his wife with another man, but Aphrodite spends the night telling a story about how love and war go together. The story is of four mortals, two couples, during World War I and how each one meets and falls and in love. More importantly, how the war and the gods played a role in their story.

An enjoyable historical fiction a story within a story. Readers may or may not understand what is going on with the gods and their time, but the story they tell is lovely. Berry has crafted an intriguing story about four people during the First World War and how it affects them individually and as a whole. 

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Book Review - Projekt 1065

📖Recommend for Grades 6 and up📖

Projekt 1065

by Alan Gratz

            Michael O'Shaughnessy is an Irish teen living in Nazi-occupied Germany. At the start of the war, Michael learns that not only is his father the Irish Ambassador to Germany but that he and Michael’s mother are both spies for the Allies. Michael becomes a spy himself and joins Hitler’s Youth in order to gain information. When Simon, a British pilot sent to take photos of a secret project, crashes his plane in Berlin, Michael finds himself in danger of aiding Simon in his mission.

            Fans of historical fiction, especially set during World War II, should definitely check out this book. While Michael’s life differs from that of his classmates, this book is a great look at the lives of teen boys in Berlin during the war. On top of that, it is a great spy fiction with a page-turning action scene.

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Book Review - Salt to the Sea

📖Recommend for Grades 8 and up📖

Salt to the Sea

by Ruta Sepetys

Alfred is a German naval officer on the Wilhelm Gustloff, a World War II ship sent to Poland to evacuate German refugees. Joana, Florian, and Emilia are three refugees whose journey brings them on board. What starts out as a journey to safety becomes the largest loss of life on a single ship in history.

An intriguing look involving a real moment in history that isn’t often shared. Each of the four main characters are likable in their own ways, even Alfred despite his being mostly unlikable. Readers looking for World War II books that aren’t about battles or the Holocaust should be sure to give this a try.

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