Things for Teens - Book Lists

The World Wars and the Great Depression

World War I

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarquse – 1930 – Adult

Paul and his classmates enthusiastically enlist to fight in the War, but soon find out the realities of war.

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway – 1954 – Adult

A love story between an ambulance driver and an English nurse set against the brutality of World War I.

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson – 2006 – Teen

After inheriting her uncle's homesteading claim in Montana, sixteen-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks travels from Iowa in 1917 to make a home for herself and encounters some unexpected problems related to the war being fought in Europe.

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo – 2004 – Teen

When Thomas Peaceful's older brother is forced to join the British Army, Thomas decides to sign up as well, although he is only fourteen years old, to prove himself to his country, his family, his childhood love, Molly, and himself.

Great Depression

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko – 2004 – Children

A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.

Dust by Arthur Slade – 2003 – Teen

Seven-year-old Mathew disappears one day on a walk into Horshoe, a farm town in Depression-era Saskatchewan. Other children go missing just as a strange man named Abram Harsich appears in town making promises about a rainmaking machine. Only Matthew’s older brother Robert seems to be able to resist Abram’s spell, and to discover what happened to Matthew and the others.

Esperanza Rising by Pam Muoz Ryan – 2000 – Children and Teen

Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.

Extra Innings by Robert Newton Peck – 2001 – Teen

After a tragic airplane crash that claims the lives of most of his family, sixteen-year-old Tate goes to live with his wealthy great-grandfather and his adopted black great-aunt Vidalia and he finds unexpected solace in the stories of her childhood spent traveling with a Depression-era Negro baseball team.

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck – 1939 – Adult

The story of the Joads, set during the Great Depression, as they struggle to make ends meet.  During the depression they are forced to travel west to the promised land of California

A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck – 1998 – Teen

A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse - 1997 - Children

In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years.

The Truth about Sparrows by Marian Hale – 2004 – Teen

Twelve-year-old Sadie promises that she will always be Wilma's best friend when their families leave drought-stricken Missouri in 1933, but once in Texas, Sadie learns that she must try to make a new home--and new friends, too.

World War II

Art of Keeping Cool by Janet Taylor Lisle – 2000 - Teen

In 1942, Robert and his cousin Elliot uncover long-hidden family secrets while staying in their grandparents' Rhode Island town, where they also become involved with a German artist who is suspected of being a spy.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – 2006 – Adult and Teen

Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.

Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac – 2005 – Teen

After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.

Eyes of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury – 2005 – Teen

Eddy Okana lies about his age and joins the Army in his hometown of Honolulu only weeks before the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Then the Army sends Eddy and a small band of Japanese-American soldiers on a secret mission--a special job that only they can do.

The Gadget by Paul Zindel – 2001 – Teen

In 1945, having joined his father at Los Alamos, where he and other scientists are working on a secret project to end World War II, thirteen-year-old Stephen becomes caught in a web of secrecy and intrigue.

Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli – 2003 – Teen

A Jewish boy living in the streets of Warsaw wishes to be a Nazi some day, with tall shiny jackboots and a gleaming Eagle hat of his own. Until the day when the trains come to empty the Jews from the ghetto of the damned, he’s a boy who realizes it’s safest of all to be nobody.

Postcards from No Man’s Land by Aidan Chambers – 2002 – Teen

This novel for older teens alternates between two stories--contemporarily, seventeen-year-old Jacob visits a daunting Amsterdam at the request of his English grandmother--and historically, nineteen-year-old Geertrui relates her experience of British soldier’s attempts to liberate Holland from its German occupation.

Soldier Boys by Dean Hughes – 2001 – Teen

Two boys, one German and one American, are eager to join their respective armies during World War II, and their paths cross at the Battle of the Bulge.

Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene – 1973 – Teen

Sheltering an escaped prisoner of war is the beginning of some shattering experiences for a twelve-year-old girl in Arkansas.

Two Suns in the Sky by Miriam Bat-Ami – 2001 – Teen

In 1944, an Upstate New York teenager named Christine meets and falls in love with Adam, a Yugoslavian Jew living in a refugee camp, despite their parents' conviction that they do not belong together.

When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park – 2002 – Teen

Sun-hee and her older brother Tae-yul are proud of their Korean heritage. Yet they live their lives under Japanese occupation. All students must read and write in Japanese and no one can fly the Korean flag. Korea is torn apart by their Japanese invaders during World War II.

Your Eyes in Stars by M.E. Kerr – 2006 – Teen

In their small New York town, two teenaged girls become friends while helping each other make sense of their families, neighbors, and selves as they approach adulthood in the years preceding World War II.

compiled from various web and print sources updated 1/08

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