WELCOME TO AUSTRALIAN USED HOMESCHOOL BOOKS!
HISTORICAL FICTION - WORLD WARS & THE HOLOCAUST
Paper Faces (Rachel Anderson) $4 HBDJ EC, $3 PB EC Dot hates change. She likes her safe little routine with her mum: visiting Baby every day in hospital and tea with Mrs Parvis. But it is May, 1945. The war is over and everything is changing. Suddenly there is no Baby to visit, and she goes with her mum to live in the country where everything is unfamiliar and frightening. Now her father is coming home – to a daughter who can’t even remember his face, unless she looks at the photo in mum’s handbag 10+ WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Faces-Rachel-Anderson/dp/0192751654/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190186535&sr=1-1 (Cover different)
His Banner Over Me (Jean Little) $3 PB EC Flora "Gorrie" Gaud, the child of missionaries, knows only Taiwan as home until the age of five, when her family returns to Canada. No sooner does she get her bearings than her parents return to Taiwan, leaving her and her siblings in the care of an aunt and uncle. The children do not see their parents again for many years, during which time an older brother is killed in World War I. Little bases her poignant novel loosely on the life of her mother, and she takes as her story's themes the nature of family and the "banner of love" that sustained her family through triumph and struggle. 10+ http://www.amazon.com/His-Banner-Over-Jean-Little/dp/0140377611
My Story “The Trenches – Billy Stevens, The Western Front 1914-1918” $6 PB EC The vivid story of sixteen year old Billy Stevens, an innocent boy from Carlisle, England, as he instantly becomes a man as he sees the terrible sights of the battlefield in the trenches. 11+ http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/My-Story-Trenches-Billy-Stevens-Jim-Eldridge/9780439938822-item.html The Beckoning Hills (Ruth Elwin Harris) $3 PB EC Sisters of the Quantock Hills is the compelling saga of the lives and loves of four sisters - Frances, Julia, Gwen and Sarah Purcell - and their neighbours, the Mackenzies. Set during the early part of the last century, the series encompasses two World Wars, and the sisters' individual stories are told against the backdrop of major historical events happening at the time. 11+ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beckoning-Hills-Sisters-Quantock/dp/0744582830 (Cover art different) Anna Is Still Here (Ida Vos) $5 PB BRAND NEW The Holocaust is over, but Anna is still haunted by the past. For three long years, Anna hid from the Nazis in Mr. De Bree’s attic and never saw her parents. But now the war is over and her family is reunited – but Anna can’t pick up the pieces of her life. 10+ http://www.amazon.com/Anna-Still-Here-Ida-Vos/dp/0140369090/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190184975&sr=1-2 Hide And Seek (Ida Vos) $5 PB NEW Rachel Hartog is only 8 years old when the Nazis invade Holland. And then the changes begin. First she can’t go to school any more. Then she’s not allowed to enter the park, and she has to give her bicycle away. Finally, she’s forced to wear a yellow star – all because she is Jewish. As the Nazis close in, Rachel and her family go into hiding, moving from house to house in the middle of the night. When they are separated, Rachel wonders if she will ever see her family again. 10+ http://www.amazon.com/Hide-Seek-Ida-Vos/dp/0140369082/ref=sr_1_1/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190187702&sr=1-1 Waiting For Anya (Michael Morpurgo) $5 PB BRAND NEW Living in France, Jo thought he might escape the worst of the war but things change when the Germans set up an outpost right in his town! Jo knows that the Jewish children hidden on a remote hill farm are no longer safe as the Germans are becoming very suspicious. He and a friend devise an elaborate escape plan under the constant scrutiny of the German soldiers – one that might just save the children – or destroy the entire town! 11+ http://www.amazon.com/Waiting-Anya-Michael-Morpurgo/dp/0140384316/ref=sr_1_2/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190188076&sr=1-2 Katarina (Kathryn Winter) $5 PB BRAND NEW This story opens on February 26, 1942 in Slovakia, during the height of WWII. Katarina, 14 lives with her beloved aunt and uncle. They are hiding from the Nazis who have been rounding up Jewish families and sending them to work camps. This family is able to dodge the Nazis for some time prior to devising escape plans. They return to Slovakia in 1943, believing their home to be safe from impending Nazi attack, but Katarina is forced to leave the home and roams the countryside from one peasant town to another, seeking food and shelter.11+ http://www.amazon.com/Katarina-Kathryn-Winter/dp/0439099048/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190340564&sr=1-2 Torn Thread (Anne Isaacs) $5 PB BRAND NEW It’s 1943, and for two years the Nazis have occupied the Polish town of Bedzin. Suddenly twelve year old Eva and her sister are torn from their father and imprisoned in a Nazi work camp in Czechoslovakia where they spin thread on treacherous machinery to make blankets and uniforms for the German army. Based on a true account. 11+ HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! http://www.amazon.com/Torn-Thread-Anne-Isaacs/dp/0590603647/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190340513&sr=1-1 The Upstairs Room (Johanna Reiss) $5 PB BRAND NEW (Has light tanning inside cover) Ten year old Annie de Leeuw doesn’t understand what’s going on. Ever since the Germans invaded her town, Annie’s life has been in a turmoil. Her friends have stopped speaking to her, she’s not allowed in school any more and now she must leave her family and go into hiding. Simply because she’s Jewish!! 10+ http://www.amazon.com/Upstairs-Room-Trophy-Newbery/dp/006440370X/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190340321&sr=1-2 (Cover different) I Am Fifteen – And I Don’t Want To Die (Christine Arnothy) $3 PB BRAND NEW A true story of Christine, only 15 when she’s caught in the middle of war-torn Budapest, Hungary, in World War II. Huddled in the cold, dark cellar of their bombed-out apartment building, Christine listens in fear as the battle rages over her head. She must get out of the city – but where will she go and how will she escape? Christine is learning some hard lessons about life – and death – as she struggles to stay alive amidst the horrors of war. 10+ Recommended! http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/arnothy_i.htm Lisa’s War (Carol Matas) $3 PB BRAND NEW Lisa is 12 years old when the Nazis invade Denmark. Angered at her country's surrendering without a fight, Lisa and her family each join the resistance, doing their part for their country while trying to hide their activities from others. Lisa starts with a small assignment of delivering some pamphlets, (and finds that frightening enough), but by the end she is helping to organize a mass evacuation of Danish Jews to Sweden. 11+ http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/carol-matas/lisas-war.htm (Cover art different)Kris’ War (Or Code Name Kris) (Carol Matas) $3 PB BRAND NEW Jesper, a Danish boy, grows up in Denmark during World War II when the Nazis overtook the country. He’s best friends with Stephen, a Jew, and falls in love with Stephen's sister Lisa. As things progressively get worse with the Nazi persecution, Jesper helps many Jewish families, including Stephen and Lisa's, to escape to Sweden to avoid being sent to concentration camps. To protect his family from being tortured because of his involvement with the Jews, he goes underground and becomes a member of the Danish resistance. 11+ http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/carol-matas/code-name-kris.htm (Cover art different)
Sky – A True Story Of Courage During World War II (Hanneke Ippisch) $3 PB FC (Cover wear) As a teenager in Holland during World War II, Hanneke could have weathered the war as most non-Jewish civilians did: trying to keep up with her studies, hoarding food, avoiding the German soldiers on every street. Instead, she joined the Dutch resistance movement and risked her life helping Jewish citizens find safe places to hide from the Nazis. Eventually arrested and sentenced to life in prison, Hanneke struggles to maintain her hope and strength until she is finally released when the war ends. In a quiet, understated manner, the author recounts her experiences and gives young readers a lot to think about: the courage it takes to act on your convictions, what it means to break the law in order to do what is "right," the hardening effects of war and oppression, the power of love and memories. 11+ http://www.amazon.com/Sky-Hanneke-Ippisch/dp/0816745242/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190341700&sr=1-1
We Are Witnesses – Five Diaries Of Teenagers Who Died In The Holocaust (Jacob Boas) $5 PB NEW Exerpts from diaries of five teenagers caught up in the dreadful days of the Holocaust: David Rubinowicz, Yitzhak Rudashevski, Moshe Flinker, Eva Heyman, and Anne Frank. Although they all lived in different parts of Europe, they each had similar issues to deal with…... Nazi persecution, life in the ghettos, not enough food and uncertainty in their future. 12+ http://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Witnesses-Teenagers-Holocaust/dp/059084475X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190341223&sr=1-1
The Avion my Uncle Flew $4 PB VGC (Light cover tanning and edge bumping) Johnny is on his way to France to live with his Uncle Paul. But what starts off as an exciting trip soon turns into a frightening adventure when a strange man, probably a Nazi spy, trails Johnny through Paris. NEWBERY HONOR 10+ http://www.amazon.com/Avion-My-Uncle-Flew/dp/0802776930/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190185037&sr=1-1
Kindertransport (Olga Levy Drucker) $5 PB BRAND NEW (Has light tanning inside cover) The author of this personal narrative was born in Germany in 1927 and soon found her life disrupted by the events in Europe in the 1930s. Her mother arranged for her to be part of the Kindertransport, through which 10,000 Jewish children were sent to live with English families. Ollie, 11 when she leaves, speaks virtually no English and finds herself in a series of undesirable living situations: a dingy, louse-infested flat; a luxurious home in which she is virtually ignored; a boarding school that closes when the war begins; a Baptist family intent on avoiding sin; and a home with a sickly woman whose illnesses cause Ollie to miss school. At the age of 16 she leaves her studies to help take care of a family with five children. During this time Ollie worries about her parents' safety in Germany as the war rages, and keeps herself going with thoughts of a reunion with them. Eventually, they make their way to New York, and in 1945, she is able to join them. Her afterword reflects on her experiences as a refugee. http://www.amazon.com/Kindertransport-Olga-Levy-Drucker/dp/0805042512/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190342600&sr=1-1
The Diary Of Anne Frank $4 HB EC The true diary of a 13 year old girl who was hidden in the sealed-off back rooms of an Amsterdam office when the Nazi invaders intensified their persecution of the Jews in WWII. A classic ‘must read’. 11+ http://www.amazon.com/The-Diary-of-Anne-Frank/dp/0330107372/ref=sr_1_4/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190340401&sr=1-4
Scholastic Biography “So Young To Die – The Story Of Hannah Senesh” (Candice F. Ransom) $5 PB BRAND NEW A brave Jewish girl, Hannah Senesh was born in 1921 and grew up in Budapest while Hitler's influence was spreading throughout Europe. In 1939 she left Budapest at the age of 18 and moved to Palestine where she joined the struggle for a Jewish homeland. In 1943, she was accepted by the British Air Force to be part of one of the most courageous rescue attempts of WWII – parachuting back into enemy territory to rescue Allied pilots and Jews, including her mother. 11+ http://www.amazon.com/So-Young-Die-Scholastic-Biography/dp/0590446770/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190342058&sr=1-1
Journey Into War (Margaret Donaldson) $2 PB VGC (Very light tanning) Ten year old Janey is abandoned in France as the German army sweeps across the Channel. Together she and two Polish boy refugees form ‘The Young Eagles’ – determined to fight the Germans themselves. But Janey is captured by the Gestapo. Can the boys free her? 9+Fireweed (Jill Paton Walsh) $4 HB GC (Ex lib) (Light tanning) A haunting story of a pair of runaways alone in London and hiding from the authorities during the terrifying blitz of 1940. 11+
Don’t You Know There’s A War On?
(Avi) $3 PB EC (Name in Nikko on bottom edges) Brooklyn, NY, 1943. Howie’s dad
is in the merchant marine dodging Nazi U-boat wolf packs on the brutal North
Atlantic Sea. Denny, Howie’s best friend, has a father in the Eighth Army,
battling Nazi General Rommel in North Africa. Every day the boys face reminders
of war – scary headlines, blackouts, food shortages and war stamp drives. All
the problems could be summed up with the expression, “Don’t you know there’s a
war on?” 10+
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-You-Know-Theres-War/dp/0380978636/ref=sr_1_3/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190342950&sr=1-3
The Machine Gunners
(Robert Westall) $4 HB EC, $2 PB GC (Older edition with light tanning and cover
wear) Set in England during World War II, Chas has been striving to own the best
war souvenir collection in town ever since Boddser Brown bested him with the
nose cone from a bomber. He gets his chance when a German Heinkel crashes into
the laundry, and the prize of all war souvenirs, a functional machine gun hidden
in the cockpit, becomes his! 10+
http://www.amazon.com/MACHINE-GUNNERS-Robert-Westall/dp/014030973X/ref=sr_1_2/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190185934&sr=1-2
Evacuee (Gabriel
Alington) $4 HBDJ VGC, $3 PB EC “Dear President Roosevelt, I am an English
evacuee and I am writing to thank you very much for sending supplies from
America to help my country win the war. My parents are in London and my brother
is in the Royal Navy so, you see, your help is very important to them and me.
Based on the author’s real life story of being sent to America in 1940 to escape
the bombing of war in London. 11+
Carrie’s War (Nina
Bawden) $3 PB VGC (Ex school) Bombs are falling on London. Carrie and Nick are
wartime evacuees billeted in Wales on old Mr Evans’ place. They were happy until
Carrie did a terrible thing, the worst she ever did in her life…. 10+
http://www.amazon.com/Carries-War-Puffin-Modern-Classics/dp/0140364560/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190342887&sr=1-1
(Cover different)
Under The Blood-Red Sun (Graham Salisbury) $4 PB GC (Some cover wear on edges, but great overall) Tomi was born in Hawaii,but his parents came from Japan to America to escape poverty. World War II seems far away from Tomi and his friends…….that is until December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbour is attacked and his world vanishes in an hour. Tomi’s father is arrested and he must be the man of the family. It’s a terrifying time to be Japanese in America! WINNER OF THE SCOTT O’DELL AWARD http://www.amazon.com/Under-Blood-Red-Sun-Graham-Salisbury/dp/0553494872/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190186081&sr=1-1 (Cover different)
When Jays Fly To Barbmo (Margaret Balderson) $3 HB GC (Ex lib, tape residue on inturns) Ingeborg’s home is in the far north of Norway, but when he glimpses a strange vessel lurking in a fjord, he knows it’s a German warship. The invasion of Norway had begun! 11+ Trooper Jackson’s Story (Brian Thompson) $2 PB GC (Light tanning, name on inturn) Set in WWI, Sam Jackson finds himself in a crack cavalry regiment fighting Germans. He is forced to grow up very rapidly and cope with situations way beyond his 18 year old experience. 11+Journey To America (Sonia Levitin) $2 PB GC (Older edition with cover creases and light tanning) Papa had made his escape to America. When it was time for Lisa and the rest of the family to flee Germany, would they be as fortunate? Not everyone thought that bad things were going to happen in Germany. But Papa was sure the Jews were not safe there, and events after he left proved he was right. Plans were made to leave, but before the family is reunited, hardships and near disaster gives them all new courage and determination to endure. 9+ http://www.amazon.com/Journey-America-Sonia-Levitin/dp/0689318294/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190186871&sr=1-1 (Cover different, older edition)
Stepping On The Cracks (Mary Downing Hahn) $4 PB VGC Margaret's brother Jimmy is overseas fighting, and Margaret and her parents avidly follow news of Allied advances. She and best friend Elizabeth, united in their dislike of Gordy the bully, slowly uncover several ominous secrets: Gordy is helping his older brother Stuart, an Army deserter, hide in a weatherworn shack in the woods; and Gordy's father batters his mother, his siblings and Gordy himself. At first Margaret and Elizabeth see their discovery of Stuart's shack as a way to "blackmail" Gordy into treating them decently, but when Stuart falls dangerously ill, the girls feel obliged to help care for him. Soon they begin to reexamine the standard propaganda about the war. 10+ WINNER OF THE SCOTT O’DELL AWARD FOR HISTORICAL FICTION http://www.amazon.com/Stepping-Cracks-Mary-Downing-Hahn/dp/0380719002/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-4310397-7091943?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192839171&sr=1-1
The Good Liar (Gregory Maguire) $3 PB VGC (Ex lib) The year is 1941...and France has fallen to the German army. But to Marcel and his two older brothers, Pierre and René, the war seems far away from their tiny village of Mont-Saint-Martin. They spend a happy summer fishing, playing soldiers, and holding contests to see who is the biggest liar. Then the Germans occupy their village — and Marcel and his brothers learn who is the best liar of them all. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/gregory-maguire/good-liar.htm (Cover art different) The War Guest (Irene Shubik) $4 HBDJ EC 'Waterloo Station would never look again as it did on that day. Children were massed everywhere, gas masks hanging from their necks. As the train pulled out, I saw my father’s handsome, melancoly face recede; the last I was to see of him for eight years. It ws August 1941; we were on our way to cross the Atlantic and become war guests.' She is eight years old when she is evacuated to Canada to live with relations. 11+ http://cgi.ebay.com.au/The-War-Guest---Irene-Shubik_W0QQitemZ360030448423QQcmdZViewItem Summer Of My German Soldier (Bette Greene) $3 PB EC Patty’s hometown in Arkansas becomes the site of a camp housing German prisoners in World War II. When she sells a pencil sharpener to Anton, a German prisoner, she begins to see him not as a Nazi, but as a frightened and lonely young man. A moving story of a developing friendship between a Jewish girl in America and a German POW. 11+ http://www.amazon.com/Summer-German-Soldier-Bette-Greene/dp/014130636X (Cover art different) Fly West (Ivan Southall) $4 HBDJ EC A book of true stories based on his experiences flying in Short Sunderland seaplanes during the Second World War. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/ivan-southall/fly-west.htmWar Stories (Bill Pronzini) $5 PB VGC Some of the worst conflicts ever witnessed are chronicled in this comprehensive collection of war stories. These stories are set in the major theatres of the Second World War, including the Pacific Islands, the North Atlantic, Europe and North Africa. There are stunning accounts of combat, as well as stories about the home front, the boot camp and the Holocaust. Some of the stories included are The Way It Is, The Commandos Go In, The Paper House, To The Castle, Act Of Faith, The Enemy, A Walk In The Sun and A Judgement In The Mountains. 12+ http://uk.nine.ebid.net/perl/auction.cgi?auction=1203373230-21192-0&mo=auction