Book Finder

The United States is a big place which holds many children and their families. Maps and what they show are introduced by a girl who begins with a drawing of her room in her home. The house is then placed on a street, in a town, etc. until we see the U.S. as part of the world. This accessible book may help children understand their place on the map — and in the census.

Me on the Map

Joan Sweeney

Illustrator:

Annette Cable

Age Level:

6-9

Genre:

Nonfiction

As seasons and years pass, a sturdy little house that witnesses her bucolic rural setting evolve into a bustling city The beautiful little house became lonely and dilapidated until someone notices her and returns the house to the country. This appealing Caldecott Medalist can be enjoyed on several levels, including a comment on the urbanization of America.

The Little House

Virginia Burton

Age Level:

3-6

Genre:

Fiction

Some U.S. Census workers walk from place to place to count people. Readers are invited to take a walk through the pages of this book to count everything from snails to fire trucks! Straightforward text combines with brilliantly hued, crisp illustrations for an appealing counting (and sorting) game that will be read and examined many times.

How Many Snails? A Counting Book

Paul Giganti

Illustrator:

Donald Crews

Age Level:

3-6

Genre:

Fiction

The Family Book

Todd Parr

Age Level:

3-6

Genre:

Fiction

I Never Saw Another Butterfly

Hana Volavkova

Age Level:

9-12

Piri is nine years old at the onset of World War II, and her life becomes a nightmare when the Nazis invade Hungary. Her Jewish family is placed into a ghetto to await the trains that will take them to the concentration camps. Although the Nazis have little to no regard for them as people, Piri’s mother courageously attempts to instill the values of human dignity and respect in her family. This sensitive fictionalized autobiography depicts the value of life in direct contrast to others’ total disregard for humanity. In the end, Piri survives the horrors of Auschwitz.

Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939-1944

Aranka Siegal

Age Level:

9-12

I Am Rosemarie

Marietta D. Moskin

Age Level:

9-12

Rachek always begs her Grandmother Oma to tell the story of Oma’s two lives: the one before American and the one after. The first part recounts her marriage prior to World War I and then her family’s move from Poland to Germany to seek safety. Ironically, two of her three daughters spent time in concentration camps but all survived and were reunited in the United States. The illustrations really add to readers’ understanding of this horrible time in history.

Always Remember Me: How One Family Survived World War II

Marisabina Russo

Age Level:

9-12

Genre:

Fiction, Historical Fiction

The Children We Remember

Chana Abells

Age Level:

9-12

Three girls trying to complete a school assignment on World War II contact Marcel Delarue, an artist who grew up in France when it was occupied by the German army. In the letter he writes to the girls — that makes up the bulk of the book — Marcel describes how he and his two brothers, Ren and Pierre, took pride in their ability to successfully tell outrageous lies; the boys even befriend a Nazi soldier. What Marcel doesn’t know, though, is that the best liar in the family is his mother, who was hiding a Jewish family in their rural home for over a year without the boys knowing it. This sometimes humorous, sometimes sad story shows how ordinary people can become extraordinary heroes.

The Good Liar

Gregory Maguire

Age Level:

9-12

Behind the Secret Window: A Memoir of a Hidden Childhood during World War Two

Nelly Toll

Age Level:

9-12

A winner of the Caldecott Award for Illustrators, Anita Lobel writes her memoir growing up in Krakow, Poland, during the Holocaust. She was only five when the Nazis invaded, and she is sent to live with their Catholic nanny in the country. Anita and her brother are eventually discovered and deported to a concentration camp where they live until the liberation. Art and books become her saving grace when she finally comes to America as a teenager.

No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War

Anita Lobel

Age Level:

9-12

Based on the true events of Germany’s invasion of Denmark, this story is told primarily from the alternating perspectives of two young Danes. After learning the Germans have plans to capture all of the Jewish people in Denmark, Julie takes her family to Sweden by boat. Her friend and co-narrator, Niels, joins the resistance when he discovers the Nazi plot while his friend, Emil, is captivated by and admires the power of the Germans. A large cast of characters reveals how the Danes fought the Nazi occupation and saved almost all of Denmarkâ€™s Jews.

Room in the Heart

Sonia Levitin

Age Level:

9-12

Twelve-year-old David has only known life in a concentration camp in Eastern Europe. When the opportunity to escape presents itself, David seizes it and then begins his journey to Denmark and freedom. Walden Media made a movie of this book, originally published in Denmark in 1963, by the same name in 2004. Since then, it has been mass marketed to educators. For teaching materials, visit their website.

I Am David

Anne Holm

Age Level:

9-12

Martin Conway hates his school and all of the snobbery there. When his grandmother dies and leaves him an old Forties radio, he mysteriously teleports back in time to the London Blitz and meets Jimmy who needs his help. Through a series of alternating story lines between the past and present, Martin helps expose various sins committed in both times.

London Calling

Edward Bloor

Age Level:

9-12

Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros?

Shel Silverstein

Age Level:

6-9

Genre:

Poetry

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Shel Silverstein

Age Level:

6-9

Genre:

Poetry

The Missing Piece Meets the Big O

Shel Silverstein

Age Level:

6-9

Genre:

Poetry

The Missing Piece

Shel Silverstein

Age Level:

6-9

Genre:

Poetry

When lions are roused by the sound of guns, only one young lion (who readers come to know as Lafcadio) stays to dissuade the hunter. Rather than deterring the hunter, Lafcadio winds up eating him, becoming a crack shot, and entering the human world. Humor in wordplay and in line drawings creates contagious fun in this poignant tale of having ties to very different worlds.