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Teen Book Spotlight--World War II

Our teen book spotlight this week is on YA books about World War II (some fiction and nonfiction)!  There are so many to choose from and it is amazing to read about the various events (ones that are well known and others not so much) through different viewpoints.  The titles featured in this week’s book talk (and listed below) are titles that are new to us at the Handley Regional Library System over the past couple of months.  These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #yaww2fiction or exploring the 940.53s and 940.54s in the library as well as on Libby and Hoopla.  Check back next week for a new teen book spotlight and if you have any book suggestions, please let us know!!

Orphan, Monster Spy by Matt Killeen--After her mother is shot at a checkpoint, Sarah, a Jewish teenager, agrees to help the resistance by posing as the daughter of a wealthy Nazi to gain access to the blueprints of a bomb that could destroy Western Europe.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys--Four young people band together as they join thousands of others in Prussia fleeing as the Russians overtake the retreating German troops. These refugees have one hope: the Wilhelm Gustloff, a cruise ship which will take them across the Baltic. Built to hold just 1500 people, over 9400 struggle aboard. Will these four survive when a Russian torpedo tears the ship apart on January 30th, 1945?

White Rose by Kip Wilson--Tells the story of Sophie Scholl, a young German college student who challenges the Nazi regime during World War II as part of the White Rose, a non-violent resistance group.

Maus, Volume 1 by Art Spiegelman--A memoir of Vladek Spiegleman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and about his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father, his story, and history itself. Graphic novel format portrays Jews as mice, Nazis as cats.

Uprooted by Albert Marrin--Just seventy-five years ago, the American government did something that most would consider unthinkable today: it rounded up over 100,000 of its own citizens based on nothing more than their ancestry and, suspicious of their loyalty, kept them in concentration camps for the better part of four years.  How could this have happened?

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe--Fourteen-year-old Dita has been imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz with her mother and father, displaced from their home in Prague. Inside the camp, Jewish leader Freddy Hirsch tasks Dita with guarding the eight precious books they have managed to smuggle into camp, becoming the librarian of Auschwitz.