(2) YA Interned during WWII, the Katsuyama family was forced to sell its flower shop and spent years earning enough to buy it back. Contemporary teen CJ Katsuyama, who works in the family shop, fights for the shop after learning it might be sold to a corporation. The story paints an engaging picture of a girl facing the past--both her family's and her own--in service of her future. Ind.

Reviewer: Christina L. Dobbs | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019

(1) YA After the Greek god Hephaestus catches his wife Aphrodite, goddess of love, in a passionate affair during WWII, Aphrodite defends her actions by relating--with pathos and wit--two intertwined love stories involving four mortals swept up in WWI. Masterful storyteller Berry's tight, short, descriptive chapters span years, continents, and multiple perspectives. This poignant saga will make readers by turns laugh, cry, and swoon. Extensive historical notes on WWI appended. Bib.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2019

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Katie Hickey. Inspired by the British women of the Women's Timber Corp, Davis relates their journey to the forests and back again, as well as their daily lives learning to cut trees. Hickey's pastoral scenes are warm and nicely detailed. The text's constant incorporation of numbers ("Six painful blisters heal and strengthen over time. Two hands willing to work...") distracts from an otherwise interesting slice of WWII history. Historical note appended.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(2) YA Lillia's Jewish family plans to escape the Nazi threat in Warsaw for Shanghai, but when their circus is raided they're separated from Lillia's mother. Lillia starts out naive at fifteen, and DeWoskin sensitively shows her maturing and accepting the role of sole breadwinner, taking a job dancing at a club. Rich prose details 1940s Japanese-occupied Shanghai through the eyes of a first-person narrator making sense of an unfamiliar setting. Bib.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2019

(3) YA This scholarly book (based primarily on Edsel's adult volume The Monuments Men) tells of the men (and one woman) who risked their lives on the front lines of WWII to preserve priceless art and buildings from destruction and looting. Despite being packed with photos and reproductions, the complex and specific subject matter, along with the dense prose, make this young-readers volume feel very adult. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(4) 4-6 Nine-year-old Rudi escapes Nazi Germany on a Kindertransport to England. Rudi finds a way to smuggle his beloved pet dachshund Hanno into England, where British citizens are euthanizing their pets ahead of the inevitable bombings. But Rudi, with the help of like-minded new friends, is determined to save his pet. Even though the telling feels rushed, this is an readable and touching WWII story.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(2) YA In 1944 London, thirteen-year-old Bertie Bradshaw finds himself in the middle of espionage and intrigue, racing against the clock to unmask a Nazi double agent before WWII's top-secret D-Day operation commences. With red herrings, ciphers to decode, a subplot about a Jewish refugee, and cameos by real-life historical figures, there's never a dull moment. Back matter includes a "roster of terms, events, and historical figures" and solutions to the ciphers.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2019

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Merrilee Liddiard. During WWII, Sam and Keiko's class is knitting socks for U.S. soldiers. Before Keiko's family is sent to an internment camp, kindly Keiko leaves behind a note and a pair of hand-knitted socks for Sam's soldier brother. Sam (whose family is Jewish) determinedly makes a scarf to mail to Keiko in return, the phrase come home safely taking on new meaning for him. Many of the border-framed illustrations aptly look like vintage photographs. Appended with information about internment camps.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2019

(3) YA The incredible life and achievements of American-born spy Virginia Hall is relayed in exciting detail in this volume. During WWII Hall worked as an undercover agent for both Britain and the U.S. and worked closely with the French Resistance. Her daring exploits will thrill young history buffs and those interested in real-life spy stories. Extensive notes are appended, and photographs are frequent throughout. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(3) 4-6 A middle-school project prompts violin prodigy Charlotte (known as Charlie) to research the great-aunt for whom she was named and who disappeared during the Holocaust; her persistent detective work leads to unexpected discoveries about her family. Sweet twelve-year-old Charlie's story provides an accessible entry point into the Holocaust and its connections to people living today, with a dash of hopefulness amid the difficult history.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(3) 4-6 Ghosts of Ordinary Objects series. Set in a Virginia coal-mining town during October of 1942, this second novel in Smibert's planned trilogy finds seventh grader Bone hoping that her Gift--the ability to touch an object and experience its owner's memories--will unlock the secrets of a jelly jar that steals sounds. Magic realism, historical fiction, and folktales are nimbly braided together with realistic portraits of grief.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(2) 4-6 On England's southeast coast, where Pa tends a lighthouse, Petra lives an idyllic childhood until WWII begins. Then Pet's German mother is interned as an enemy alien--the first of many upsets and mysteries for Pet. This is historical fiction, but it reads like an old-fashioned detective adventure, complete with a secret smugglers' tunnel and attempted murder. Vivid writing and an intense, intrepid heroine provide substance and charge.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2019

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Katy Wu. WWII-era film star Hedy Lamarr (1914–2000) was also an inventor whose "brain overflowed with idea after idea." Though Lamarr's technology is widely used in today's electronics, it took decades for her work to be acknowledged. Well-chosen quotes reveal Lamarr's frustration with people's assumptions about her intelligence based on her "pretty face." Approachable digital illustrations ably portray Lamarr in glitz-and-glam-Hollywood mode and at her inventing table. Reading list, timeline. Bib.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2019

(1) YA Former U.S. Congressman Norman Mineta, who shares his childhood experiences at Heart Mountain Internment Camp, is the heart of this book about Japanese American internment during WWII. Warren smoothly moves from her subject's personal experiences to incorporate the larger picture of the 120,000 people interned across the U.S. Warren leaves much to ponder about our nation's past and present, about "this beautiful tapestry that is America." Reading list, websites. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2019

(2) YA Consummate historical-fiction writer Wein here exercises her considerable skill as researcher, historian, and storyteller in a capacious history of the USSR’s three regiments of airwomen during WWII. Wein takes us deep into the training, daily lives, combat, and intense personal commitment these women experienced throughout the war. An easy, friendly writing style invites readers into the company of a formidable sisterhood. Illustrated throughout with maps and period photographs. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019

(2) YA Sophie Scholl was a real-life German university student and member of the anti-Hitler White Rose resistance movement executed by the Nazis in February 1943. This verse novel starts near "THE END," with her interrogation at Gestapo headquarters; goes back to "BEFORE," beginning in 1935; then alternates between timelines. Most of the entries are poems in Sophie's imagined voice, and Wilson does an exceptional job revealing Sophie's inner thoughts and feelings. Bib., glos.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019

(3) 4-6 This volume collects oral histories of men and women who recount their childhood World War II experiences decades later to present-day children. Fear, loneliness, and anger are vividly remembered and shared with the young interviewers. Most of the accounts, organized into sequential segments, are those of British survivors (the book was first published in the UK). Numerous photographs enhance this historical treasure. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Luther B. Clegg

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Dom Lee. This poignant story of a young Japanese American boy trying to make sense of the world was one of the first American picture books to overtly talk about Japanese American internment and acknowledge racism and its effects on a child. This twenty-fifth anniversary edition contains moving author and illustrator notes: Mochizuki hopes that the book has been a "role model"; Lee fears "history repeating itself."

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019

(4) YA Naive Ella works in a sewing workshop at "Birchwood," the English name for Birkenau (the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in fact had a workshop of just this kind). Ella develops a close friendship with Rose (with undertones of sexual attraction). Characterization and imagery are among the novel's strengths, though some readers may object to its simplifying and decontextualizing events in the name of "show[ing] universal experiences."

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(3) 4-6 Spy on History series. Illustrated by Scott Wegener. This novel, with occasional comics-style illustrations, covers the fascinating history of the Ghost Army: the group of American sound engineers and artists, including Sergeant Victor Dowd, that deceived the Germans in WWII by setting up elaborate fake tanks and troops. An attached envelope contains spycraft materials, which add extra hands-on appeal as readers solve a hidden mystery; historical note appended. Bib.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello