Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Home > Books > Tales of World War II: Amazing True Stories from the War that Shook the World

Tales of World War II: Amazing True Stories from the War that Shook the World

Book Synopsis

It’s the Second World War as you’ve never seen it before – discover the hidden stories of incredible human spirit during the world’s darkest hour.

Everyone knows what Adolf Hitler, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill were doing during World War II, but what about ordinary people? In this beautifully illustrated book, war historian Hattie Hearn reveals some of the most incredible true tales from the war, including:

– The Canadian cabin boy who avoided German U-boats crossing the Atlantic
– The Navajo soldiers who developed a secret code to outfox their enemies
– The African-American jazz singer who worked as a spy for the French Resistance

Beautifully illustrated by Margarida Esteves and featuring stories from all over the world, Tales of World War II also contains jaw-dropping tales including the dog used to find survivors in the London Blitz, the champion cyclist who carried secret messages to help Jews escape the Nazis, and the bear who was recruited by the Polish army!

Interspersed throughout the stories are pages explaining the key events of the war – from Pearl Harbor and Dunkirk to D-Day and the Holocaust.

Our Review Panel says...

This book was a gem of a read. It has become my favourite book about World War 2 and was very popular with my Year 6 class. It is a large hardback and was bigger than expected (154 pages of tales), which was a wonderful surprise!

The contents page is full of what the true tales will be about, in addition to telling us about the key events of the war, in chronological order. The clues in the titles led to natural discussions and predictions about what the tale could be about- and were sometimes a red herring as they thought ‘The Guinea Pig Club’ would be about guinea pigs, however, it was a twist they were not expecting.

As a class, pupils enjoyed voting for a tale to share, with favourites being ‘A Bear Called Wojtek’ and ‘Rip the Rescue Dog’ – as stories of animals in the war are of particular interest to children and they were shocked to learn that a bear was enlisted into the Polish army as a private and fought alongside the soldiers!

Each page is a visual delight, with some smaller illustrations, to whole page illustrations- it is a book that could be shared under a visualiser to get a full impact or for small groups to share.

Even those who know a lot about the war, will find out something new in this book. A must-have for anyone with an interest in World War 2 or for any class learning about World War 2. .