FCF Recommendations: War Books for Teens

When it comes to First Chapter Friday, it’s hard to go wrong with war books for teens, especially those related to World War II in particular. Just like adult readers, middle and high school students are fascinated by World War II. And why not? War books for teens are often about teens, giving our students the opportunity to see beautiful examples of courage and resilience in people their own age, while also connecting them to thoughts and feelings all teenagers have, even in the midst of a world war.

Of course, when it comes to war books for teens, they often read books about the Holocaust in school. While these books are incredibly important, there are so many more experiences our students can read about and learn from, so today we’re sharing seven compelling war books for teens about WWII that aren’t focused on the Holocaust.

War Books for Teens Our Students Love

Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinken

This Newbery Honor book tells the interweaving stories of the men and women working on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico; Soviet spies infiltrating the scientific communities in Great Britain and the United States; and a group of soldiers on a sabotage mission behind German lines.

Not only will your students learn a lot about the building of the atomic bomb and the world of espionage during World War II, this nonfiction book reads like spy fiction: we couldn’t stop turning the pages to find out what happened next.

City of Thieves by David Benioff

Despite the important role the Soviet Union played during World War II, historical fiction books for teens about World War II tend to focus on events in Germany, Great Britain, France, and the United States. City of Thieves, however, tells the story of two young men on a mission to find a dozen eggs for the wedding cake of a Soviet military officer during the 872-day-long siege on Leningrad. The story is exciting and heartbreaking, and it offers insight into an entire country’s wartime experiences we don’t tend to know much about.

Helpful Hint: Have audiobook lovers in your classroom? This one’s read by Ron Perlman and is exceptional. Note: This book is for more mature students. You may want to consider having students obtain parental permission for this title.

Lifeboat 12 by Susan Hood

Hood’s novel in verse tells the story of Ken, who, along with 90 other British children, is evacuated from London during the Blitz on the SS City of Benares, headed for Canada.

The novel explores Ken’s complicated relationship with his father and stepmother, details his excitement to be sailing on a luxury cruise ship, and ultimately tells the harrowing tale of his attempt to survive when the ship is hit by a German torpedo several days into its journey. The exciting story appeals to readers of all levels and provides great opportunities for discussion.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Septys

Septys is a master of YA historical fiction, and Salt to the Sea is one of our favorites (and we’re not alone: it was the 2016 winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult fiction). It tells the story of three young adults attempting to escape various wartime conditions and a young stowaway Nazi named Albert, who are all brought together on the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German cruise liner repurposed to transport civilians and military personnel to safety as the Soviet Union advances on the Eastern Front.

When the hugely overcrowded ship is sunk by a Soviet submarine, the more than 9,000 deaths vastly outnumber the deaths on both the Titanic and the Lusitania. The story of the sinking (which really happened) is a page-turner, but the novel also offers less familiar perspectives on the war in Europe.

Helpful Hint: If you have students who loved Jennifer A. Nielsen in middle school, they will probably be great fans of Septys’s content and style. As fans of both authors, we say Nielsen is still a good fit for high school and Septys would probably be appropriate for mature 8th graders. 

Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian’s Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive by Laura Hillenbrand

The original version of Louis Zamperini’s autobiography is one of our all-time favorite reads, and the young adult version hews close to the original but provides additional explanation for young readers while omitting some of the more graphic details.

Hillenbrand’s biography reads like fiction as it tells the unbelievable story of Louie’s journey from rambunctious teenager, to Olympic star, to military pilot, to castaway, to prisoner of war, to traumatized veteran to, finally, a man who has found healing and peace.

Zamperini’s experiences allow readers to travel to the other side of the globe and learn about the war in the Pacific, but the story’s power ultimately comes from Zamperini’s admirably resilient spirit. We taught the novel to our freshman honors students during our last year in the classroom, and it was a huge success.

We Are Not Free by Traci Chee

The atrocities of the Holocaust are well-known, but a troubling, often unexplored, part of American history is Executive Order 9066, which ordered that all people of Japanese descent living on the West Coast of the United States be forcibly relocated into internment camps. Many of the men, women, and children sent to these camps were American citizens, deprived of their constitutional rights purely because of their race.

Chee’s novel tells the story of a group of 14 Japanese American teenagers as they move from Japantown in San Francisco, to a temporary detention center at a racetrack, to internment camps in Topaz, Utah, and Tule Lake, California (a maximum security camp for “no-no” Japanese Americans). The novel is compelling, heartbreaking, and oh-so-important to read.

Resistance by Jennifer A. Nielsen

When Chaya’s family is torn apart by the Nazi occupation of Poland, she does the only thing she feels she can: she joins the resistance. Her “Aryan” features enable her to move in and out of the Jewish ghettos without raising much suspicion. But when the resistance’s biggest act of rebellion to date goes awry, Chaya becomes saddled with another member of her cell, a weak, angry, Jewish girl named Esther. Forced to work together, Chaya and Esther face discovery by the Nazis and death at their hands, as they persevere to fulfill their work for the resistance. 

Have your students read and loved any of these titles? More importantly, what war books for teens have we missed? Reach out to us at [email protected] or on Instagram @threeheads.works, and if you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to our monthly First Chapter Friday Nearpods: we send out FIVE free quick and easy First Chapter Friday activities each month that we think you and your students will love. If you’re looking for more YA book recommendations, be sure to check out all our YA book posts.