(1) YA Brown (recently 83 Days in Mariupol, rev. 7/23) applies his signature graphic-nonfiction approach to the rescue of Jewish young people during the Holocaust through various means, including hiding and evacuation. Sequences about broader historical events set the scene before Brown turns focus to individual human stories, showing poignant moments as parents and children say what may be final goodbyes. The varied panel layouts in Brown's digital illustrations employ a muted palette, making the occasional exceptions (red Nazi armbands and flags; the Reichstag fire) especially striking. Real quotes shown in speech bubbles lend immediacy. Though there are hopeful elements in the stories of people helping one another, the book doesn't shy away from painful truths; several powerful wordless spreads near the end depict the fate of many of those left behind. Back matter includes an afterword, source notes, and a bibliography.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(2) YA Hopkinson (We Must Not Forget: Holocaust Stories of Survival and Resistance, rev. 3/21) delivers another highly engaging nonfiction account of World War II. After giving some background information on the colonization of the Philippines, the movement for independence, and the continued U.S. military presence leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the author turns to Japan's attack on key military bases in the Philippines, leaving the island nation vulnerable to invasion. After a valiant effort for several months, despite severe shortages of food, water, and supplies, the combined American and Philippine forces surrendered. Next came the infamous Bataan Death March, which saw fatigued and emaciated soldiers forced to march dozens of miles to Camp O'Donnell, the first of several prison camps the Allied soldiers endured. The fatality rate for these camps was as high as forty percent, and those who survived (eventually to be liberated by General MacArthur) were forever changed. Hopkinson has amassed an impressive array of primary-source accounts--ranging from those by nurses and doctors to soldiers and guerrilla fighters to journalists and activists--and woven them together into a cohesive whole. The narrative is complemented by numerous sidebars that often take up whole pages and include digressions into various related topics; black-and-white photographs; and maps. An extensive bibliography of print and digital resources, source notes, and an index are appended.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2023

(1) YA Illustrated by Nick Bertozzi. Sheinkin's work of award-winning narrative nonfiction (Bomb, rev. 11/12) is here sharpened by the author's own graphic adaptation--and portrayed through Bertozzi's skillful cartooning--amplifying the drama, intrigue, and brutality irrevocably linked with the dawn of the atomic age. In five chapters, roughly spanning the years of WWII, Sheinkin cogently interconnects a massive cast of world leaders, scientists, military personnel, spies, and civilians across a mostly chronological account of the Manhattan Project. Unique for this new edition, Sheinkin chose the post-war interrogation of Harry Gold (a Philadelphia factory worker who spied for the Soviets) as the narrative's through line. This clever bit of storytelling permits the omniscient narrator to seamlessly move between key events as they are discussed during Gold's hardboiled questioning. The Golden Age-style illustrations generally adhere to an efficient three-tier, nine-panel page layout yet regularly shift in size, shape, and number to underscore significant moments and ideas. Notably, a stark white page is used to depict the detonation of the Little Boy atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Back matter includes an author's note describing Sheinkin's adaptation process, while an informative epilogue ends on a slightly more ominous note than the original: "How does this story end? We don't know--because it's still going on. And, like it or not, you're in it."

Reviewer: Patrick Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(1) YA Barone (Race to the Bottom of the Earth, rev. 5/21) delivers another impressive feat of narrative nonfiction storytelling. In the years following World War I, Germany developed a virtually unbreakable code, called Enigma, with the help of a complicated machine. One such machine fortuitously fell into the hands of Poland, enabling their ­codebreakers to duplicate the machine and crack the code--until the Germans added layers of complexity. As Hitler rose to power, the threat of military aggression became obvious, increasing the stakes substantially; the code was central to military operations, particularly the German naval strategy. France, England, and Poland now had extra motivation to cooperate with one another to break the code; and break it they did, but not before an extensive game of ­cat-and-mouse with Germany. Accompanied by occasional ­black-and-white ­photos, Barone's suspenseful text introduces a sprawling cast of characters, with the epilogue updating readers on what happened afterward to the central ­players. A timeline, bibliography, and source notes are appended.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) YA When the United States entered World War II and Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated to various incarceration camps, the Takeshita family was sent first to Topaz, Utah, and then--because they were deemed to be "disloyal"--to Tule Lake, California. Readers are introduced to Yuzuru Takeshita at age fourteen; born in California, he had spent a good chunk of his childhood in Japan and had been struggling to re-acclimate. The narrative then shifts back to Japan to focus on a secretive large-scale effort to create balloon bombs that would be carried by wind currents across the Pacific and explode in the United States, causing havoc, panic, and fear. The bombs largely fail, but one does land, killing six people in a small Oregon town. Stone then segues many years into the future for the third section. Takeshita is an old man and has brought together some of the women who had made the bombs (then high-school girls) with the surviving family members from the Oregon bombing. It's a healing and cathartic process for all parties. This complicated story includes a large cast of characters, multiple settings, and several shifts in time. It's a credit to Stone that she fashions them into a cohesive, compelling narrative. Black-and-white captioned photographs appear throughout, while author's notes, source notes, a bibliography, and an index are appended.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(1) YA Brown's America Is Under Attack (rev. 11/11) offered a superb dramatic account of the events of September 11th for readers too young to have remembered it. Here he returns to the topic with a volume for teen readers and a twenty-year perspective on the tragedy. The book begins with the attack itself and its immediate aftermath, capturing the horror, heroism, and particular personal stories and details--claustrophobic images of survivors entombed for hours until pulled from the rubble, exhausted firefighters and rescue dogs, stranded pets, and shoes "absent their owners" littering the ground. The story continues, as Brown depicts subsequent American attacks on Afghanistan and the Taliban, with graphic images of hooded prisoners, waterboarding, and confinement of captives in small boxes. Meanwhile, in the U.S., 108,342 truckloads of rubble are hauled away, a new Freedom Tower is erected, and hope arises from the ashes, a bright American flag dazzling against Brown's palette of browns and grays. A construction worker on a beam above the skyline delivers a patriotic note: "They hit the World Trade Center. They hit the Pentagon. But they missed America." Once again, Brown (Drowned City, rev. 9/15; The Unwanted, rev. 9/18; A Shot in the Arm!, rev. 5/21) shows his mastery of the graphic format for portraying humanity in the most trying of circumstances. Back matter includes an informative afterword, statistics, source notes, and an extensive bibliography.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2021

(2) 4-6 Hopkinson (Courage & Defiance, rev. 11/15; Dive!, rev. 9/16; and others) continues to build an impressive body of work about World War II with these accounts of children and their families caught up in the Holocaust in Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Poland. "To Give the Dead a Voice" is her theme, as she weaves a rich third-person narrative with numerous first-person accounts. There's Eva Lauffer and Martin Deutschkron hiding in Berlin "under the noses of the Nazis," Max Liebmann escaping over the mountains to Switzerland aided by a young French boy, and Paula Burger and her brother Isaac hiding in rain barrels and escaping the Novogrudek ghetto with the help of a Polish farmer and the Bielski Partisans. Hopkinson has created a rich resource for teachers, librarians, and students--an effective melding of narratives; well-selected black-and-white photographs with informative captions; maps; and especially useful "Look, Listen, Remember" sidebars that provide links to interviews with many of the survivors. Extensive back matter includes a glossary, a timeline, and "Museum Websites and Online Resources." The source notes demonstrate the thorough research underlying the volume.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

(1) YA Sheinkin returns to the milieu of his award-winning Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon (rev. 11/12) for this equally compelling sequel. In the aftermath of World War II, the United States and Russia emerge as global superpowers, each vying for ideological, technological, and territorial dominance. Cold War tensions eventually climax with the Cuban ­Missile Crisis, bringing the rivals perilously close to nuclear war. Castro, Eisenhower, ­Kennedy, and Khrushchev play significant roles in shaping world events leading up to it: the partitioning of Germany, the Berlin Wall, and the metaphorical Iron Curtain; the development of the hydrogen bomb and the subsequent arms race; the equally competitive space race; and the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. But Sheinkin also introduces a colorful parade of lesser-known characters who step forward for their fifteen minutes of fame--scientists and spies; U-2 pilots and submarine captains; secretaries, cyclists, and mobsters. Deftly weaving these anecdotes into the larger tapestry of history and politics, Sheinkin crafts an epic narrative with a large cast of characters, far-flung settings, multiple plot strands, and rising suspense, further evidence that one of our best nonfiction writers is also one of our best ­storytellers. Black-and-white photographs are ­strategically placed at the beginning and end of chapters, while generous source notes, a bibliography, and an index are appended.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(2) YA After a brief introduction to the central figures and the crucial importance of understanding these men today, Davis opens his history of modern dictators with the burning of the Reichstag and Hitler's subsequent rise to absolute control over Germany. Flashing back to the infancy of democracy in ancient Greece and Rome, Davis lays out how democracies function and where they are susceptible to breaking. Following this history, readers are brought back to the twentieth century with a look at Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, then move forward chronologically through the rises and falls of Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Saddam Hussein. Each biographical history effectively places the dictator in time and aptly builds context around his ascent to power. Similarities in each figure's childhood are noted, but readers are often warned not to draw causal connections between the events of these men's youth and their notoriety in adulthood: "If every boy who has ever been expelled from school for fighting--or even attacking someone with a penknife--became a dictator, the world would have far more dictators." Davis's central thesis regarding the fragility of democracy reads as a warning to readers who will undoubtedly think about the current viability and strength of twenty-first-century democracies at home and abroad. This well-researched book includes extensive quotations from contemporaneous newspaper accounts as well as footnotes and an in-depth bibliography (which helpfully notes the titles most useful to young adult readers). Index unseen.

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2021

(2) K-3 Translated by Elisa Amado. Illustrated by Ana Penyas. In the spring of 1937, the ship Mexique sailed from France to Mexico with 456 Spanish refugees, all children whose parents were fighting on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War. The expected three-to-four months away became years and, for some, a lifetime, as Franco's retribution against former Republicans and then the onset of World War II made it impossible for the children to return home. Ferrada focuses on the journey itself, told from the limited perspective of one (likely fictional) young child. "I can't really remember where we are going, but it is far." The narrator clings to the older children--"Clara, Sonia, Eulalia, Maria, our sisters, collect our tears in their handkerchiefs"--finding strength from companionship through a difficult transition from the familiar but terrifying wartime Spain to the unknown but welcoming Morelia, Mexico. "We play at imagining where we are going. Morelia is a color...Morelia is a fruit." Penyas's illustrations are primarily black and white, with accents of red. The palette effectively establishes setting and grabs readers' attention. Per an appended note: "The images in this book are based on photographs of the 'Children of Morelia' and the ship that brought them to Mexico," adding a further layer of realism and poignancy. In one spread, small panes each show a different view of the open ocean, fragments of the narrator's interminable journey. Although the specifics of the story are clearly historical, there is a universality to them that connects these pages to the tale of every child sent away from home for safety during times of war.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2021

(2) YA The Edelweiss Pirates were groups of German youth who protested the Nazi regime through actions ranging from simple mischief and propaganda all the way up to sabotage. Because they were generally poor--and poorly organized--they, according to Gaddy, have not been properly recognized by scholars as being part of the resistance movement. This book aims to shed light on their efforts by weaving together the stories of three young people--Gertrud, Fritz, and Jean--in and around the city of Cologne from 1932 to 1945. Over those dozen-plus years, conflicts escalate, from them pulling pranks on the Hitler Youth to their prolonged interrogation at the hands of the SS. The three teens convey their unique but shared experiences, rendering a history that is at once familiar and new. Drawing on primary sources such as memoirs, interviews, government documents, and archival photographs, Gaddy unflinchingly chronicles Germany's harrowing and inexorable embrace of fascism and the brave young people who struggled against its tyranny. A final chapter leaps forward in time to discuss the current legacy of the Edelweiss Pirates. This book stands next to Hoose's The Boys Who Challenged Hitler (rev. 7/15) and Freedman's We Will Not Be Silent (rev. 5/16) as a testament to those young people who resisted the Nazis. A "Persons of Interest" list begins the book; an author's note, source notes, bibliography, and index are appended.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2020

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Britta Teckentrup. The titular dwelling was the weekend home of Harding's great-grandparents in Germany, built by his great-grandfather nearly a century ago. Readers experience the peace and idyll of the place, inhabited by "a kind doctor and his cheery wife" and their four children; several spreads of lyrical text and serene illustrations depict a warm-hearted, carefree, sun-dappled setting. It's not long, however, before the Nazis descend, forcing the family from their home. A new family arrives, "carrying suitcases and musical instruments and love," but the war soon means that they, too, must leave rather than fight for the Nazis. The house is once again empty--then it's temporarily used as a shelter for those fleeing persecution; then it's witness to the Berlin Wall's rise and fall (and inhabited by a man who informed on his neighbors); then it falls into disrepair. And then the author arrives and fixes it up "until it shone like new...Once again the house by the lake was happy." An appended author's note very helpfully fills in the blanks of the occasionally vague main text. We learn more about the real people who moved in and out of the dwelling (it is here that we learn Harding's family was Jewish; and more about that spying inhabitant), and find out that it now serves as a "center for education and reconciliation." Teckentrup's evocative textured and layered mixed-media illustrations beautifully reflect the bucolic setting in times of both familial repose and, chillingly, unthinkable evil.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2020

(2) YA In comics format, Brown (The Unwanted) recounts the deadly Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, which brought "sickness to a third of the planet and death to millions of people." In his illustrations, Brown employs striking visual angles that produce maximum emotional impact while still conveying solid, accurate information. He succinctly traces the evolution of the medical disaster with statistics and anecdotes woven in, while his somber, muted palette expertly captures the mood of the period. Bib.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Katie Hickey. Inspired by the British women of the Women's Timber Corp, Davis relates their journey to the forests and back again, as well as their daily lives learning to cut trees. Hickey's pastoral scenes are warm and nicely detailed. The text's constant incorporation of numbers ("Six painful blisters heal and strengthen over time. Two hands willing to work...") distracts from an otherwise interesting slice of WWII history. Historical note appended.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(3) 4-6 Alternator Books: They Survived series. While the sinking of the Titanic is probably familiar to young readers, the heroism of Louis Zamperini may not be. Both readable volumes contain detailed texts accompanied by both black-and-white and color photos. The chronological narratives are compelling, enhanced by boxed photo captions. Each book concludes with a "surviving deadly situations" feature with practical tips for doing just that. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Alternator Books: They Survived titles: Surviving a World War II Prison Camp and Surviving A Shipwreck

Reviewer: Renée Wheeler

(3) YA This scholarly book (based primarily on Edsel's adult volume The Monuments Men) tells of the men (and one woman) who risked their lives on the front lines of WWII to preserve priceless art and buildings from destruction and looting. Despite being packed with photos and reproductions, the complex and specific subject matter, along with the dense prose, make this young-readers volume feel very adult. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(1) 4-6 Heiligman tells the riveting tale of the SS City of Benares. Carrying two hundred passengers, half of them children, the ship was torpedoed on September 17, 1940, in the North Atlantic; many perish in the night from exposure to the cold and stormy weather. Heiligman skillfully juggles various points of view, heightening narrative tension while remaining scrupulously faithful to the historical record. Black-and-white photographs and illustrations are incorporated throughout. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2019

(3) YA Janeczko (Double Cross) revisits the topic of deception as a war tactic in this fascinating, detailed look at the so-called "Ghost Army" during World War II. The unit consisted of sound engineers, actors, camouflage experts, and set designers, who helped create the illusion of fake troop movements using sets, sound effects, and showmanship. A lesser-known WWII story that should enthrall history buffs.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(4) 4-6 Adapted from an adult edition, this volume chronicles a rescue by American soldiers of prized horses taken by the Nazis. Letts's immense affection for horses is clear: Lippizaners, Arabians, and their breeders, trainers, and riders are celebrated; war's inhumanity to horses is lamented. Attributions of human thoughts and sentiments to the horses may jar some readers' understanding of equine abilities, but horse-lovers will go along for the ride. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(3) 4-6 Alternator Books: They Survived series. While the sinking of the Titanic is probably familiar to young readers, the heroism of Louis Zamperini may not be. Both readable volumes contain detailed texts accompanied by both black-and-white and color photos. The chronological narratives are compelling, enhanced by boxed photo captions. Each book concludes with a "surviving deadly situations" feature with practical tips for doing just that. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Alternator Books: They Survived titles: Surviving a World War II Prison Camp and Surviving A Shipwreck

Reviewer: Renée Wheeler