Baseball Saved Us

Title: Baseball Saved Us
Author: Ken Mochizuki

Illustrator: Dom Lee
Type: Realistic Fiction
Approximate Interest Level: K-12th
Publisher: Lee & Low Books

Date of Publication: 1995
ISBN: 978-1880000199

Synopsis: The story of "Shorty" and his family and their experiences as Japanese Americans during World War II.  After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Shorty and his family are sent to an internment camp in the United States.  While there, Shorty learns to play baseball.  He ultimately channels his anger and frustration over his situation into playing baseball.  After being released from the internment camp, Shorty and his family continue to be subjected to racism and bigotry, and Shorty continues to use baseball as his outlet.

Lesson Plan Link

Possible Teaching Points: 1) racism, 2) war, 3) internment camps, 4) WWII, 5) Japanese Americans

Faithful Elephants

Title: Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People, and War
Author: Yukio Tsuchiya

Illustrator: Ted Lewin
Type: Non-Fiction
Approximate Interest Level: 4th-12th
Publisher: Houghton-Mifflin

Date of Publication: 1997
ISBN: 978-0395861370

Synopsis: The poignant story of John, Tonky, and Wanly; three elephants that lived at the Ueno Zoo in Japan during World War II.  During the bombing of Tokyo, the zookeepers are directed to euthanize the elephants so that they will not suffer or cause damage if the zoo is destroyed.  The zookeepers try various methods of putting the elephants down, but nothing works.  They ultimately decide that the only option is to starve the animals. Throughout their ordeal, the elephants continue to remain faithful to the zookeepers.  After their death, a memorial is built at the zoo to honor John, Tonky, and Wanly.  A great resource to begin a discussion about some of the unintended consequences of war.

Lesson Plan Link

The Hindenburg

Title: The Hindenburg
Author: Patrick O'Brien
Illustrator:

Type: realistic fiction
Approximate Interest Level: 5th-12th
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. 

Date of Publication: 2000
ISBN: 978-0805064155

Synopsis: This book details the early history of airships, including their use during World Wars I and II and their use as passenger vehicles.  The story concludes with the explosion of the Hindenburg on May 6, 1937.  The book has vivid, eye-catching illustrations throughout.

 

Possible Teaching Points: 1) history of flight, 2) airships, 3) the Hindenburg

Sadako

Title: Sadako
Author: Eleanor Coerr

Illustrator: Ed Young
Type: Fiction, based on a true story
Approximate Interest Level: 3rd-12th
Publisher: Penguin

Date of Publication: 1993
ISBN: 0-399-21771-1

Synopsis: Sadako, a young Japanese girl is diagnosed with leukemia  a result of the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima during World War II.  She looks for good luck symbols around her.  One day her friend gives her a golden crane and tells her that if a sick person folds one thousand paper cranes the gods will grant that person a wish.  Sadako begins making cranes, but she does not make it to 1,000.

Lesson plan link

Possible Teaching Points: 1) World War II, 2) the atomic bomb, 3) Japan

Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot

Title: Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot
Author: Margot Theis Raven
Illustrator: Gijsbert van Frankenbuyzen
Type:  Non-fiction
Approximate Interest Level: 3rd-12th
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press

Date of Publication: 2002
ISBN: 978-1585360697

Synopsis: This is the true story of American pilot, Gail Halvorsen, and Mercedes Simon, a young German girl, and their experience during the Berlin airlift in World War II.  Gail Halvorsen, feeling for the German children around his airbase, has begun dropping small parachutes with candy for them before landing.  The children begin to write letters to him, calling him the Chocolate Pilot.  Mercedes writes a letter detailing how she enjoys watching him fly over her house, but that his plane is scaring her chickens and they will not lay eggs.  The pilot mails her a box of candy.  The book also includes details about the actual event.

Lesson Plan link

Possible Teaching Points: 1) the Berlin Airlift, 2) World War II

The Butterfly

Title: The Butterfly
Author: Patricia Polacco
Illustrator: Patricia Polacco
Type:  Fiction
Approximate Interest Level: 4th-12th
Publisher: Puffin
Date of Publication: 2009
ISBN: 978-0142413067

Synopsis: Monique lives in a small French village during WWII.  Nazis are occupying the village.  One night she wakes and sees what she thinks is a ghost in her room.  The ghost turns out to be a Jewish child, named Sevrine that is being hidden along with her mother and father by Monique’s family.  The two girls become friends even though Sevrine has been told many times not to leave her hiding place.  One night, a neighbor sees the two girls playing.  The families must rush to find a new hiding place.

Lesson plan link

Possible Teaching Points: 1) World War II, 2) Nazi occupation, 3) the Holocaust

Let the Celebrations Begin!

Title: Let the Celebrations Begin!
Author: Margaret Wild
Illustrator: Julie Vivas
Type:  Fiction
Approximate Interest Level: 4th-12th
Publisher: Orchard Paperbacks
Date of Publication: 1991
ISBN: 978-0531070765

Synopsis: Set in a World War II concentration camp, Miriam and her friends are preparing toys for the party they will have when they are liberated by the soldiers.  Prisoners in the camp donate buttons and other parts of their clothing to make stuffed toys for the children that have no toys.

Possible Teaching Points: 1) World War II, 2) the holocaust, 3) life in the concentration camps