World War II, the most expansive, expensive, and deadly war on record, began in 1939 when Germany, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland as part of Hitler's quest for world domination. By late 1940, Italy and Japan joined Hitler's efforts, continuing to invade countries all over the world. Their missions were brutal, resulting in much death and destruction, including persecution of the Jews in Germany, Poland and throughout Europe. (Approximately six million Jews would be killed before the war's end, in this dark period known as the Holocaust).

On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, a devastating event that drew the United States officially into the war. The U.S. soon allied with Great Britain, Russia and others in battle. After several long and gruelling years and countless military campaigns, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. On August 9th, the U.S. also bombed Nagasaki, Japan. Following this devastation, Japan surrendered and the war officially ended on September 2, 1945.

Hitler who saw his vision of world power begin to crumble, committed suicide in his bunker on April 30, 1945.

World War II continues to fascinate generations of people. It is a monumental piece of history. Perhaps your grandparents or great-grandparents lived through this time and could tell you more about it. We encourage you to ask them. And in the meantime, we have some books on the subject for you to check out, as well as an interview with noted historian and author Stephen E. Ambrose.

   --- Shannon Maughan

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A Conversation with Stephen E. Ambrose

Q: When did you first become fascinated with World War II?

A: I was born in 1936, and some of my earliest memories are of the War --- the patriotism, the sense of a unified purpose, and the sacrifices made by the veterans and their families all made a deep impression upon me. The war, in one way or another, was all around me as I grew up, and I guess I absorbed a certain amount of it, like so many other folks.

Q: You've written so many astonishing books for adults. How did you come to decide to write one for children?

A: It seems to me that the current generation of young people are very unaware of what their grandparents, and in some cases great-grandparents, gave up to ensure that all Americans could live in peace and freedom. They need to learn about the costs of the Second World War and not just the physical costs paid by the men doing the fighting. Close family members of Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen also paid a price for peace and freedom as well, in the form of long separations and concerns about the safety of a husband, father, son, or brother --- many of whom did not come back.

Q: How do you go about researching your books?

A: When I'm not writing, I'm doing reading related to it. I try to immerse myself in the subject as much as possible. I also have the aid of my son Hugh, who has been a great hep with my last three book projects.

Q: What authors/books do you recall reading as a child?

A: I remember reading biographies of both Julius Caesar and George Washington early on in high school. The lives of both of these men made a great impression on me. Ever since, I have always been fascinated by a basic question: Why does a given historical figure do what he did, and how did he do it?

Q: Are you an avid reader?

A: As I said earlier, reading is something I do several hours a day, and it never ceases to be a source of delight and wonder to me.

Q: Is there one story from the war that has most moved you?

A: An event as colossal as the Second World War has no shortage of human drama, but I guess what moved me the most was hearing accounts from the American GIs who liberated the Nazi death camps across Europe in the closing days of the war. The true nature of what we were fighting against was revealed, and the gratitude that the prisoners showed the G.I.s still moves me deeply to this day.

Q: What do you hope children will come away with when they've finished reading THE GOOD FIGHT?

A: How bravely their grandparents fought in the war, and the unselfish nature of their willingness to go to war to save citizens of nations other than their own. The liberation of Europe and the Marshall Plan that followed are the best examples of national unselfishness that I can think of. We did not have to fight Germany and Japan for our own survival --- we did it because it was the right and decent thing to do.

Q: How does your writing involve you in working in motion pictures and series, such as the upcoming miniseries Band of Brothers?

A: Well in the case of Saving Private Ryan, I was the historical consultant for the film. Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Hanks would ask me for information that would enhance the accuracy and authenticity of the movie. Many veterans have since told me that Saving Private Ryan was the closest thing to being there that they had experienced. I value the praise of our veterans more highly than just about anything else. I hope they will feel the same way about Band of Brothers when it is completed.

Q: Have you visited many of the battlefields you've written about?

A: Oh, yes. I've been to Normandy a number of times, and I also enjoy visiting Civil War battlefields, such as Gettysburg and Shiloh. I'm also planning on visiting the Pacific battlefields to aid in research for my next book, CITIZEN SOLDIERS OF THE PACIFIC, which will be about the battles of Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

Q: How do the events of World War II continue to affect society today?

A: The wonderful world that Americans live in --- a world of peace, prosperity, and tolerance --- are a direct result of the most important event of the twentieth century, WWII. We could not live in such a world without all that the veterans of this war have given to their country. Our security rests on the foundation that those who served in World War II built.

Q: What's your next project?

A: I'm working on a book about the Pacific, as I mentioned earlier, and the Band of Brothers project is also coming along nicely. I'm also assisting the National D-Day Museum with the opening of a Pacific Wing of their museum, scheduled for December 7, 2001 --- the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. I have many other projects that I'm working on as well, but those come most readily to mind.

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WWII Book Reviews

THE GOOD FIGHT: How World War II Was Won
by Stephen E. Ambrose
S&S/Atheneum
ISBN: 0689843615
Ages 10-up
96 pages

Noted historian and bestselling author Ambrose highlights the key conflicts of World War II with black-and-white photos, maps, sidebars and his thorough and compelling narrative. From Pearl Harbor to the Battle of the Bulge to what life was like on the homefront, Ambrose delivers a wealth of information and unforgettable images to bring history alive.

WHERE HEROES HIDE
by Helen Recorvits
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374330573
Ages 8-10
144 pages

Do you know one reason why authors write books? To find out what they think about something. That's one reason why we read books, too --- to find out what we think about something. WHERE HEROES HIDE is a book that deals with an important question: what is a hero? If a man receives a war medal, is he a hero, or is he just a man who acts bravely sometimes?

In 1956, Junior's father is a decorated veteran of World War II. Junior wasn't even born when his father came back from the war; Junior's sister was only six years old. She remembers the nightmares their father used to have. She tells Junior that their father is a good man, even though he behaves badly sometimes. Junior's mother tells him the same thing. All Junior knows is that his father yells a lot, and he especially yells at Junior for being friends with Lenny.

Lenny got polio. Although he couldn't go to school for years and spent lots of time in the hospital, the doctors have said he isn't contagious anymore and can go to school again. He has to wear a brace on his leg, but he's nice, lots of fun, and he and Bobby are Junior's two best friends. Junior's father, however, believes Junior could die if he hangs around with Lenny, and he tells Junior to stay away from him. He orders Lenny off his property. Then he even humiliates and hits Lenny.

He doesn't apologize for this even when Lenny's father confronts him. Lenny's father tells him that other men served their country. Even winning a medal is no excuse for mistreating a 10-year-old boy. Lenny couldn't help getting polio, he says, but Junior's father is lots sicker than Lenny is --- and he can help it.

Junior tells his father that he hates him. Does he really? Is a man who would throw things at a child and humiliate him until he cries a good man? Could there be an excuse for it? Read this book and decide for yourself.

   --- Reviewed by Tamara Penny

A BOY AT WAR: A Novel of Pearl Harbor
by Harry Mazer
Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0689841612
Ages 10-14
128 pages

On December 7, 1941, Adam and his friends Davi and Martin are out fishing on a boat in Hawaii's Pearl Harbor. But suddenly Japanese fighter planes begin to drop bombs in the area. The boys frantically row to shore only to see that the American warship U.S.S. Arizona --- the ship on which Adam's military dad is stationed --- has been obliterated in the bombing. This very personalized look at Pearl Harbor gives new perspective to this time in history.

JANEY G. BLUE: Pearl Harbor, 1941
by Kathleen Duey
S&S/Aladdin
ISBN: 0689844042
Ages 8-12
128 pages

Janey enjoys her new and exotic surroundings when her family moves to Hawaii from Kansas. She knows there is a war on --- her father, a welder, is working for the military at Hickman Airfield on the island of Oahu. But the battles still seem very far away from the palm trees and beaches. That is until December 7, 1941 when Japan planes attack Hawaii's Pearl Harbor, setting off a terrifying chain of events for Janey, her family, and the whole country. Step back in time and walk in Janey's shoes in this exciting, historical tale.

SOLDIER X
by Don Wulffson
Viking
ISBN: 067088863X
Ages 10-14

Erik Brandt is only 16, but he is one of the many thousands of German boys sent into war by Adolf Hitler in World War II. Erik travels to the Eastern Front --- Russia --- as an interpreter, but he only saves himself from getting killed by slipping into a dead Russian's uniform and pretending to be a wounded Russian soldier. You won't want to miss this exciting story inspired by history.

WHEN THE SOLDIERS WERE GONE
by Vera Propp
Puffin
ISBN: 0698118812
Ages 8-12
112 pages

When the Nazis invaded his homeland, young Henk was hidden on a farm with a kind family. Now that the war is over, he discovers that the people he lives with and loves are not his real family. He can't even remember his own parents. Will he be able to go on, now that he knows the truth?

ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR: The True Story of the Day America Entered World War II
by Shelley Tanaka
illustrated by David Craig
Hyperion
ISBN: 0786807369
Ages 10-up
64 pages

In writing this book, Tanaka was inspired by the memories of American and Japanese citizens --- those on the homefront and those who served in the military. She combines events from these personal histories with photographs and memorabilia to create a fascinating look at the past.

DON'T YOU KNOW THERE'S A WAR ON?
by Avi
HarperCollins
ISBN: 0380978636
Ages 8-12
160 pages

Avi's latest novel introduces us to what life was like on the homefront --- Brooklyn, N.Y. in particular --- during World War II. Like many fathers, Howie Crispers's dad is away fighting in the war, going up against the Nazi U-boats. Howie worries about his father, but he also wants to get his mind off the war sometimes. It's not easy to do when there are scrap collections and blackouts all the time. Luckily he and his best friend Denny can go to the 25-cent kid movies on Saturday and get swept up in another world for awhile. They also have a great teacher, Miss Gossim, who helps them get through the long days. But things get even more complicated when Miss Gossim is about to be fired. With everything else that's going on, can Howie and Denny help save her job?

THE GADGET
by Paul Zindel
HarperCollins
ISBN: 0060278129
Ages 11-up
192 pages

Thirteen-year-old Stephen is headed for Los Alamos, New Mexico in early 1945. He'll be joining his father, who happens to be a talented physicist working on a top-secret project at the Los Alamos Army base. While he's there, Stephen does some investigating of his own and learns the nature of his father's work --- a project called "the gadget," a device meant to end all wars. Can you guess what it is? You won't want to miss this fact-based page-turner.

SURVIVING HITLER: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps
by Andrea Warren
HarperCollins
ISBN: 0688174973
Ages 8-up
144 pages

Hitler's army tears 12-year-old Jack Mandelbaum's family apart in this powerful account of one boy's experience during the Holocaust. Jack fights for survival in a concentration camp --- trying to stay strong, stay safe, get something to eat, and keep the bad thoughts about his family's fate away. Don't miss Jack's account of his ordeal.

NO PRETTY PICTURES
by Anita Lobel
Camelot
ISBN: 0380732858
Ages 9-up
193 pages

In this memoir, the author and illustrator remembers growing up a Jewish girl in Poland during World War II. Even though they escaped the Nazis at first, Lobel and her family were eventually caught and sent to concentration camps. Her story is filled with courage, heart and hope.

THE JOURNAL OF BEN UCHIDA: Citizen 13559 Mirror Lake Internment Camp
by Barry Denenberg
Scholastic
ISBN: 0590485318
157 pages

Following the Japanese bombing of Hawaii's Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States entered World War II against Japan. Anti-Asian sentiment was strong, and the US government ordered Japanese immigrants and American citizens of Japanese origin to enter internment camps for the duration of the war. This fictional journal takes the point-of-view of a Japanese-American boy, Ben Uchida, who realizes that "my face was the face of the enemy," in spite of his loyalty to the United States.  

Ben's ordeal begins when his father, an optometrist, is arrested by the FBI: "The government is afraid that men like Papa will help the Japanese bomb California," Ben says in disbelief. Ben and his mother and sister must sell all their property and move into a crowded barracks; the boy describes the pain of others who had to give away their pets or throw away precious family heirlooms.  

Ben makes the best of the strange situation by playing baseball with other kids and exchanging sarcastic letters with Robbie, his (white) best friend, back in San Francisco. In the privacy of his journal, he expresses his true feelings, from boredom to anger. When the internees must listen to a speech by a "project director," he wisecracks, "That's one of the things I love about this place. Nothing is called what it is. I mean this guy is the project director. Not the *prison camp* director or the warden. Of course, I'm living in a place called Mirror Lake where there's no lake, so what can you expect?"

Ben talks about the irony of celebrating Independence Day in the camp, reports with disgust on a shooting by the Military Police, and tells how the Army recruits soldiers from among the internees. Author Barry Denenberg doesn't make Ben a passive or willing observer. Ben considers himself an American, and he bitterly resents his unfair imprisonment.  

Ben's fictional memoir begins to explain an unfortunate part of US history, and readers will learn more from the book's photos and notes on "Life in America in 1942." Some of the images come from a famous collection by Toyo Miyatake, a professional photographer who documented his own time in an internment camp. The disturbing pictures and true stories reveal that, although Americans today pride themselves on respecting diversity, attitudes and laws were much different just 58 years ago.

   --- Reviewed by Nathalie op de Beeck

DEAR AMERICA: MY SECRET WAR: The World War II Diary of Madeline Beck
by Mary Pope Osborne
Scholastic
ISBN: 0590687158
Ages 8-10
200 pages

In September 1941, Maddy is in the eighth grade at a new school on Long Island, New York. She and her mother have moved into a boarding house next to the ocean. Maddy has already lived on naval bases in lots of places, even Panama and Far Rockaway. Her father is a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy and a trained dive-bomber. He's on a ship in the Pacific Ocean somewhere, but Maddy and her mother don't know where. They don't even know what ship he's on. Military officials censor all the mail he sends them, so lots of things he tells them have been blacked out when they get his letters. The rest of the world is already at war; things are looking very grave for the United States.

But at school, the mood is very different. Some of the girls in Maddy's class act like the most important thing in life is what to wear to the next party. Maxine, for example, starts a club called the Star Points. Only five girls can be in this club, the five prettiest girls in class. She doesn't invite Maddy to join. Maddy thinks they are silly and vain, walking around at recess with their arms linked singing "I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair." But she doesn't like being the odd one out in a new school, either. Things aren't all bad, though. Johnny Vecchio, the handsomest and most popular boy in class, thinks it's neat that Maddy's dad is in the Navy. Maddy tries to play this up with him, bragging a little about her dad.

When the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the U.S. officially enters the World War II, Maddy and Johnny start the Kids Fight for Freedom Club, or the K3F. Maddy is the colonel and Johnny is the major. They talk to their class, and kids volunteer to join. The club does all sorts of things to help fight the war. They collect kitchen grease because it can be used for glycerine to make explosives. They collect tinfoil (even gum wrappers), scrap metal, newspapers, and used books for servicemen. They make up Red Cross first-aid kits, and they donate collected silk stockings for parachutes. They take seriously the signs posted warning people to beware of loose lips --- saboteurs could be anywhere. They even watch for planes and keep logs of all the kinds of aircraft they see. All the kids in school, even Maxine and the Star Points, join the K3F.

As the war intensifies,Maddy's bragging about her dad backfires. When news of the victorious Battle of the Coral Sea reaches the papers, Maddy tells Johnny that her father was probably in it, even though she doesn't know that. Then a boy comes to the door of the boarding house with a telegram. It says that Maddy's father has been critically wounded in battle. That's all it says. Weeks go by with no more news. Maddy and her mother don't know whether he's dead or alive, or how he was wounded. Suddenly the war isn't excitement and doing wonderful things to help the fighting men anymore. Maddy feels guilty because she didn't write her dad as often as she should have, since she was so busy with the K3F. She's obsessed with waiting for more news about her father. So she resigns from the club. Johnny is mad at her. He says she can't quit on servicemen now. It's war, and kids like them are needed more than ever. But Maddy ignores him.

Then, one night, as Maddy is walking on the beach even though it's off limits after dark, she runs into two men. They tell her she shouldn't be there. They say they are with the Coast Guard, on secret military business, and she must not tell anybody she saw them or she'll be arrested. She agrees and runs home. She's afraid to tell anybody, but she's afraid to keep it to herself, too. What about the way she knows she's being followed? Would the Coast Guard do that? Who can she trust? Should she tell Johnny? What will they discover? And what will they do about it? In war, even on the Home Front, people can be killed --- being a kid doesn't make any difference. Read this book to find out what happens to Maddy, Johnny, and Maddy's father.

   --- Reviewed by Tamara Penny

AIR RAID -- PEARL HARBOR!: The Story of December 7, 1941
by Theodore Taylor
Harcourt/Gulliver
ISBN: 0152164219
Ages 10-14
208 pages

Taylor's nonfiction title brings this historic event into perspective by presenting both the Japanese and American viewpoint. You'll learn more about the events that led up to the battle of Pearl Harbor and perhaps understand more about the motivations of the people on either side. This is an eye-opening and compelling read.

THE JOURNAL OF SCOTT PENDLETON COLLINS: A World War II Soldier, Normandy France, 1944
MY NAME IS AMERICA Series by Walter Dean Myers
Scholastic Trade
ISBN: 0439050138
Ages 9-12

For Scott Collins, becoming a soldier was a family tradition. His great-grandfather fought in the Civil War, his father fought in World War I. They are heroes to Scott's family and Scott wants to be just like them with his picture displayed, in uniform, alongside theirs on the living room wall. When Scott joins the Army, he and his fellow soldiers have dreams of marching into Germany and freeing the world from the evil plans of Adolf Hitler. He soon finds that being a soldier isn't quite as glorious as he had envisioned.

From the time Scott and his company hit Omaha beach in Normandy, France, the casualties are heavy. With men wounded and dying all around him, Scott turns to his journal to express the emotions and fears he is feeling. He had never seen war up this close; stared death in the face. Far from the comforts of home, the fight against the Nazis becomes a cold, muddy, life-threatening struggle to reach the next foxhole, the next town, the next front line. Will Scott live to see his family again? Read his journal to learn more about World War II and how the brave men and women fought to preserve freedom. As always, an appendix is included that gives more detail about the time period and the events described in the fictional story.

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