Moments in History: World War II, the Holocaust, and Japanese Internment

Within these lines / Stephanie Morrill

Italian-American Evalina and Japanese-American Taichi's vow to be together, although interracial marriage is illegal in 1941 San Francisco, is tested when Taichi's family is sent to Manzanar internment camp.

Spearhead : an American tank gunner, his enemy, and a collision of lives in World War II, adapted for Young Adults / Adam Makos

The story of a World War II tank platoon and the gentle soldier behind the immortalized film footage of history's iconic duel at the great cathedral in Cologne.

A place to hang the moon / Kate Albus

In World War II England, orphaned siblings William, Edmund, and Anna are evacuated from London to live in the countryside, where they bounce from home to home in search of someone willing to adopt them permanently.

When can we go back to America? : voices of Japanese American incarceration during WWII / Susan H. Kamei ; forward by Secretary Norman Y. Mineta

A narrative history of Japanese Americans before, during and after their World War II incarceration, including the voices and stories of over 130 individuals who lived through this episode, most of them as young adults.

Displacement / Kiku Hughes

Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II. These displacements keep occurring until Kiku finds herself stuck back in time. Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camps, Kiku gets the education she never received in history class. She witnesses the lives of Japanese-Americans who were denied their civil liberties and suffered greatly, but managed to cultivate community and commit acts of resistance in order to survive.

Atomic women : the untold stories of the scientists who helped create the nuclear bomb / Roseanne Montillo

Meet the World War II female scientists who worked in the secret sites of the Manhattan Project. Recruited not only from labs and universities from across the United States but also from countries abroad, these scientists helped in the development of the atomic bomb, taking starring roles in the Manhattan Project.

Under the iron bridge / Kathy Kacer

It's 1938 in Dusseldorf, Germany, and Paul is under pressure to join the Hitler Youth. The last thing he wants to do is march around with a bunch of bullies, supporting the Gestapo and abusing the city's Jews, but even Paul's parents think he should go along with his classmates in order to keep himself safe. Inspired by the true story of the Edelweiss Pirates, a group that declared "Eternal War on the Hitler Youth," Under the Iron Bridge is a tale of courage in the face of cruelty.

Devil darling spy / Matt Killeen

Sarah Goldstein--Jewish orphan turned secret weapon in the resistance against the Nazis--is hunting down a rogue German doctor whose germ warfare experiment could kill thousands with a single syringe. But her journey through Central Africa reveals the ravages of colonialism and exposes darker truths about her own allies than Sarah could've ever imagined.

Yonder / Ali Standish

Danny Timmons has looked up to Jack Bailey ever since Jack saved two small children from drowning during the Great Flood of 1940. Now, with his father away fighting in World War II and his mother about to have a new baby, Danny relies on Jack's friendship and guidance more than ever. So when Jack goes missing without a trace from their small Appalachian town, Danny is determined to find him. He wonders if Jack's abusive father could be behind his disappearance, or if it has anything to do with Yonder--a hidden magical town Jack once spoke of, where flocks of rainbow birds fly through the sky and they've never heard of war. As answers elude him, Danny begins to fear that he didn't know Jack as well as he thought. Ultimately, Danny's investigation forces him to reckon with even larger questions: What is America fighting for in this war? What role do each of us play in stopping injustices, big and small? And is there such thing as a true hero?

The Enigma game / Elizabeth Wein

Told in multiple voices, fifteen-year-old Jamaican Louisa Adair uncovers an Enigma machine in the small Scottish village where she cares for an elderly German woman, and helps solve a puzzle that could turn the tide of World War II.

Prisoner of night and fog / Anne Blankman

In 1930s Munich, the favorite niece of rising political leader Adolph Hitler is torn between duty and love after meeting a fearless and handsome young Jewish reporter.

The blossom and the firefly / Sherri L. Smith

In 1945 Japan, Taro, a talented kamikaze pilot, believes he is ready to die for his country until he meets fifteen-year-old war worker Hana. Hana hasn't been the same since the day she was buried alive in a collapsed trench during a bomb raid. She wonders if it would have been better to have died that day until she meets Taro.

They called us enemy : written by George Takei, Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott ; art by Harmony Becker

Actor/author/activist George Takei revisits his haunting childhood in American concentration camps, as one of 120,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II.

When the world was ours / Liz Kessler

Three young friends-Leo, Elsa, and Max-spend a perfect day together, unaware that around them Europe is descending into a growing darkness and that they will soon be cruelly ripped apart from one another. With their lives taking them across Europe-to Germany, England, Prague, and Poland-will they ever find their way back to one another? Will they want to?

We are not free / Traci Chee

For fourteen-year-old budding artist Minoru Ito, her two brothers, her friends, and the other members of the Japanese-American community in southern California, the three months since Pearl Harbor was attacked have become a waking nightmare. They’ve been attacked, spat on, and abused with no way to retaliate and now things are about to get worse. Their lives will forever change by the mass incarcerations in the relocation camps.

The paper girl of Paris / Jordyn Taylor

Now: Sixteen-year-old Alice is spending the summer in Paris ... When her grandmother passed away two months ago, she left Alice an apartment in France that no one knew existed. An apartment that has been locked for more than seventy years. Alice is determined to find out why the apartment was abandoned and why her grandmother never once mentioned the family she left behind when she moved to America after World War II ... However, the more time she spends digging through the mysteries of the past, the more she realizes there are secrets in the present that her family is still refusing to talk about. Then: Sixteen-year-old Adalyn doesn't recognize Paris anymore. Everywhere she looks, there are Nazis, and every day brings a new horror of life under the Occupation. When she meets Luc, the dashing and enigmatic leader of a resistance group, Adalyn feels she finally has a chance to fight back. But keeping up the appearance of being a much-admired socialite while working to undermine the Nazis is more complicated than she could have imagined.

Unlawful orders : a portrait of Dr. James B. Williams, Tuskegee airman, surgeon, and activist / Barbara Binns

The Tuskegee Airmen heroically fought for the right to be officers of the US military so that they might participate in World War II by flying overseas to help defeat fascism. However, after winning that battle, they faced their next great challenge at Freeman Field, Iowa, where racist white officers barred them from entering the prestigious Officers' Club that their rank promised them. The Freeman Field Mutiny, as it became known, would eventually lead to the desegregation of the US armed forces, forever changing the course of American history and race relations. One Black officer who refused to give in to the bigotry at Freeman Field was James Buchanan "JB" Williams. JB grew up the son of sharecroppers, but his loving family and insuppressible intellect drove him to push boundaries placed on Black Americans in the early twentieth century. JB's devotion to the betterment of others took him from the classroom where he learned to be a doctor, to serving as a medic in the US military and eventually joining the elite Tuskegee Airmen, where he fought to change the minds of all who believed Black men couldn't make good soldiers. But JB's greatest contribution came in his role as doctor and Civil Rights activist after the war, where he continued to push past injustices placed on Black Americans.

The shelter and the fence : when 982 Holocaust refugees found safe haven in America / Norman H. Finkelstein

In 1944, at the height of World War II, 982 European refugees found a temporary haven at Fort Ontario in Oswego, New York. They were men, women, and children who had spent frightening years one step ahead of Nazi pursuers and death. They spoke nineteen different languages, and, while most of the refugees were Jewish, a number were Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Protestant Christians. From the time they arrived at the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter on August 5 they began re-creating their lives and embarked on the road to becoming American citizens. In the history of World War II and the Holocaust, this "token" save by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the War Refugee Board was too little and too late for millions. But for those few who reached Oswego it was life changing. The Shelter and the Fence tells their stories.

Agent most wanted : the never-before-told story of the most dangerous spy of World War II / Sonia Purnell

This is a historical nonfiction book about Virginia Hall, an American spy in France who the Nazis dubbed "the most dangerous of allied spies." It tells the story of her youth and her work in Europe during the second world war.

In harm's way : the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the story of its survivors : an adaptation for young readers / Doug Stanton and Michael J. Tougias

A young readers edition of Doug Stanton and Michael J. Tougias' New York Times bestseller In Harm's Way -- a riveting World War II account of the greatest maritime disaster in US naval history. On July 30, 1945, the U.S.S. Indianapolis was torpedoed in the South Pacific by a Japanese submarine. An estimated 300 men were killed upon impact; close to 900 sailors were cast into the Pacific Ocean, where they remained undetected by the navy for nearly four days and nights. Battered by a savage sea, they struggled to stay alive, fighting off sharks, hypothermia, and hallucinations. By the time rescue arrived, all but 316 men had died. The captain's subsequent court-martial left many questions unanswered: How did the navy fail to realize the Indianapolis was missing? And how did these 316 men manage to survive against all odds? This thrilling wartime account of heroism and survival, Book 5 in the True Rescue narrative nonfiction series, is inspiring and unforgettable -- the perfect choice for young adventure-seekers.

Inside/Out is closed through December 4 for Garden of Lights setup.
Garden of Lights premieres at 5:30pm on December 4.

Moments in History: World War II, the Holocaust, and Japanese Internment

Within these lines / Stephanie Morrill

Spearhead : an American tank gunner, his enemy, and a collision of lives in World War II, adapted for Young Adults / Adam Makos

A place to hang the moon / Kate Albus

When can we go back to America? : voices of Japanese American incarceration during WWII / Susan H. Kamei ; forward by Secretary Norman Y. Mineta

Displacement / Kiku Hughes

Atomic women : the untold stories of the scientists who helped create the nuclear bomb / Roseanne Montillo

Under the iron bridge / Kathy Kacer

Devil darling spy / Matt Killeen

Yonder / Ali Standish

The Enigma game / Elizabeth Wein

Prisoner of night and fog / Anne Blankman

The blossom and the firefly / Sherri L. Smith

They called us enemy : written by George Takei, Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott ; art by Harmony Becker

When the world was ours / Liz Kessler

We are not free / Traci Chee

The paper girl of Paris / Jordyn Taylor

Unlawful orders : a portrait of Dr. James B. Williams, Tuskegee airman, surgeon, and activist / Barbara Binns

The shelter and the fence : when 982 Holocaust refugees found safe haven in America / Norman H. Finkelstein

Agent most wanted : the never-before-told story of the most dangerous spy of World War II / Sonia Purnell

In harm’s way : the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the story of its survivors : an adaptation for young readers / Doug Stanton and Michael J. Tougias

Book List: Moments in History: World War II, the Holocaust, and Japanese Internment

Sachem Public Library

Inside/Out is closed through December 4 for Garden of Lights setup. Garden of Lights premieres at 5:30pm on December 4.

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Moments in History: World War II, the Holocaust, and Japanese Internment

Book List: Moments in History: World War II, the Holocaust, and Japanese Internment

Sachem Public Library

Inside/Out is closed through December 4 for Garden of Lights setup.
Garden of Lights premieres at 5:30pm on December 4.