Wartime Memories

Stories for Children: Picture Books - Books for Older Readers - Non-fiction Books

Bunting - So far from the sea
When seven-year-old Laura and her family visit Grandfather’s grave at the Manzanar War Relocation Center, the Japanese American child leaves behind a special symbol.

Mochizuki - Baseball saved us
A Japanese American boy learns to play baseball when he and his family are forced to live in an internment camp during World War II, and his ability to play helps him after the war is over.

Noguchi - Flowers from Mariko
When she and her family are released from the Japanese American internment camp where they have spent the last three years, Mariko plants a garden to raise their spirits.

Shigekawa - BlueJay in the desert
While living in a relocation camp during the World War II, a young Japanese American boy receives a message of hope from his grandfather.

Uchida - The bracelet
Emi, a Japanese American in the second grade, is sent with her family to an internment camp during World War II, but the loss of the bracelet her best friend has given her proves that she does not need a physical reminder of that friendship.

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Cheaney - My friend the enemy
During World War II, a twelve-year-old girl becomes friends with a young Japanese American boy she discovers being sheltered and hidden by her neighbor.

Denenberg - The journal of Ben Uchida: citizen 13559 Mirror Lake Internment Camp
Twelve-year-old Ben Uchida keeps a journal of his experiences as a prisoner in a Japanese internment camp in Mirror Lake, California, during World War II.

Hest - Love you, soldier
Katie, a Jewish girl living in New York City during World War II, sees many dynamic changes in her world as she ages from seven to ten waiting for her father to return from the war.

Mazer - A boy no more
After his father is killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Adam, his mother, and sister are evacuated from Hawaii to California, where he must deal with his feelings about the war, Japanese internment camps, his father, and his own identity.

Myers - The journal of Scott Pendleton Collins: a World War II soldier
A seventeen-year-old soldier from central Virginia records his experiences in a journal as his regiment takes part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and subsequent battles to liberate France.

Osborne - My secret war: the World War II diary of Madeline Beck
Thirteen-year-old Madeline’s diaries for 1941 and 1942 reveal her experiences living on Long Island during World War II while her father is away in the Navy.

Poynter - A time too swift
Living in San Diego on the verge of World War II, fifteen-year-old Marjorie is confused by her romantic feelings for a handsome serviceman and her changing attitude toward the Japanese neighbors she has known all her life.

Rinaldi - Keep smiling through
A ten-year-old girl living in middle-class America during World War II learns the painful lesson that doing what’s right is not always an easy thing to do.

Savin - The moon bridge
The friendship between San Francisco girls Mitzi Fujimoto and Ruthie Fox is changed when World War II begins and Mitzi and her family are forced to go into an internment camp.

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King - World War II days: discover the past with exciting projects, games, activities, and recipes
Discusses American life during World War II, depicts a year in the lives of two fictional families, and presents projects and activities, such as deciphering codes, making a mobile out of found objects, and baking a sweet potato pie.

McGowen - World War II
Provides an overview of the military battles and political changes that occurred during World War II.

Panchyk - World War II for kids: a history with 21 activities
Describes the causes and history of World War II, and includes interviews with participants and suggested activities.

Welch - Children of the relocation camps
Explores the experiences of Japanese American children who were moved with their families to relocation centers during World War II, looking at school, meals, sports, and other aspects of camp life.

Whitman - Children of the World War II home front
Explores the experiences of children living in the United States during World War II, including writing V-mail to soldiers, participating in air raid drills, planting Victory Gardens, buying stamps for war bonds, and gathering cooking grease and scrap metal for making bombs.

Stanley - I am an American: a true story of Japanese internment
Shi Nomura was a high-school student when he became an internee at Manzanar. He was one of the 120,000 American citizens who lost everything when the U.S. government sent them to internment camps.

Yancey - Life in a Japanese American internment camp
Discusses the course of Japanese immigration into the United States, events leading to the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II, and the conditions they faced in the internment camps.

Gourley - Welcome to Molly’s world, 1944: growing up in WorldWar Two America
Provides an in-depth look at life and historical events in America during World War Two.

Perl - Behind barbed wire: the story of Japanese-American Internment during World War II
Discusses the forced internment of Japanese-Americans in camps following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States into World War II.

Sakurai - Japanese American internment camps
Discusses the mass relocation of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II, profiling individuals such as Daniel Inouye, Yoshiko Uchida, and George Takei.

Schomp - World War II – Letters from the Battlefront
Describes the Second World War through the letters of the people who fought it, serving in all branches of the military, throughout the Pacific, northern Africa, and Europe.

Schomp - World War II – Letters from the Homefront
Tells the story of World War II through the letters, diaries, and oral accounts of the people who worked, watched, and waited at home.

Whitman - Uncle Sam wants you!: military men and women of World War II
Describes the experiences of men and women in the United States armed services during World War II, discussing such topics as the draft, boot camp, stateside duty, and combat in Europe and the Pacific.

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