Text Set

Joshua Colaw
SOLs covered:
WHII.12 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the
worldwide impact of World War II by
a) explaining economic and political causes, describing
major events, and identifying leaders of the war, with
emphasis on Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D.
Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall,
Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Hideki Tojo,
and Hirohito;
b) examining the Holocaust and other examples of
genocide in the twentieth century;
c) explaining the terms of the peace, the war crimes trials,
the division of Europe, plans to rebuild Germany and Japan,
and the creation of international cooperative organizations
and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).

The Second World War: A Complete History
This Textbook offers a
comprehensive look at the
Second World War. It also
would be an appropriate
text to use as the complete
history for the unit.
It is a slightly higher reading
level but would prepare the
students for more difficult
classes in the future.
Gilbert, M. (2004). The
Second World War: a
Complete History (Revised
ed.). New York, NY: Holt
Paperbacks.

Night by Elie Wiesel is considered a
masterpiece. It shows the honest, yet
terrifying account of the authors survival
as a teenager in the Nazi Death camps.
This book is written at a 9
th
or 10
th
grade
reading level and allows the reader to
experience the Holocaust from a first
hand perspective to truly gain an
appreciation for how truly horrific the
events that occurred actually were.
Wiesel, E. (2006). Night (Revised ed.).
New York: Hill and Wang.

Maus is a graphic novel by
American cartoonist Art
Spiegelman. It shows the author
interviewing his father about his
experience as a Polish Jew and
Holocaust survivor. The book uses
postmodern techniques- most
strikingly in its depiction of races
of humans as different kinds of
animals. Maus has been
described as memoir, biography,
history, fiction, autobiography, or
mix of genres.
This book is geared towards a 9
th

or 10
th
grade reader and would
be very useful to give different
perspectives on the topic of WWII
and the Holocaust.
Spiegelman, A. (1986). Maus: A
Survivors Tale. New York:
Pantheon.

Between Shades of Gray
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta
Sepetys It follows the Stalinist purges of
the latter half of the 20th century and
follows the life of Lina as she is deported
from her native Lithuania with her
mother and younger brother and the
journey they take to a work-camp in
Siberia. It has been nominated for the
2012 CILIP Carnegie Medal

and has been
translated into more than 27 languages.
This book is at a slightly higher reading
level than the other books in my text set
but would be accessible to gifted
readers.
This book would be very suitable for my
class because it gives the perspective of
WWII from an eastern European
outlook.
Sepetys, R. (2011). Between Shades of
Gray. New York: Philomel.

https://www.kh
anacademy.org/
partner-
content/crash-
course1/crash-
course-world-
history/national
ism-
imperialism-
globalization/v/
crash-course-
world-history-
38

World War II Crash Course World History
#38
This is a 13 minute video done to effectively
summarize the start, duration, and end of the
most catastrophic war to ever occur. The hope of
the video is to quickly and efficiently touch on the
major topics in WWII and show how they are all
tied together. This video would be very useful for
a class especially given the growing connection to
technology we are seeing in the classroom today.
The manner that information is presented in this
video is also very effective because once all of the
information is laid out it is reassessed and the
important points are shown. Finally this would be
a great video because the pace that the
information is given is similar to how television
and the internet now puts out information.

The Diary of a Young Girl
The Diary of a Young Girl is a book
of the writings from the Dutch
language diary kept by Anne Frank
while she was in hiding for two
years with her family during the
Nazi occupation of the
Netherlands.
This is a classic novel, offering yet
another perspective of the
atrocities that occurred during
WWII. It would be easily accessible
for any 9
th
or 10
th
grader.
Frank, A. (1993). Anne Frank: the
Diary of a Young Girl (Reprinted.).
New York: Bantam.


Number the Stars
The story centers around ten-year-
old Annemarie Johansen, who lived
in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1943
and was caught up in the events
surrounding the rescue of the
Danish Jews. She risks her life to
help her best friend, Ellen Rosen, by
pretending that Ellen is Annemarie's
late older sister, who had died
earlier in the war as a result of her
work with the Danish Resistance.
This book is a rather easy read but
offers a look at into what it would
have been like in the countries
boarding Germany at the start of
WWII.
Lowry, L. (2011). Number the
Stars (Reissue ed.). Boston: HMH
Books for Young Readers.


Band of Brothers
This would be a great series to
have kids watch. Though it is
kind of violent, with permission
from parents, I think that it
would be a very appropriate. It
covers the invasion of Normandy
extensively and would allow
students to get an in depth look
at specific battles and
operations.
This would definitely not be
suitable for in the classroom but
if given to students
Ambrose, S. E. (2001). Band
of Brothers: e Company,
506th Regiment, 101st
Airborne from Normandy to
Hitler's Eagle's Nest (Media
ed.). New York: Simon &
Schuster.


Under the Blood Red Sun
This Book details the life of Tomi,
a Japanese-American boy, and his family
during World War II, when Americans of
Japanese descent were being sent
to internment camps. Tomi lives in Hawaii,
and witnesses the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The story centers on the racist persecution
of Tomi's family by others, the
government's suspicion of the Japanese,
and the family's efforts to downplay their
Japanese heritage.
This novel would be more at a middle
school reading level but I think it would be
very appropriate for the class. It shows
some of the horrible racism that occurred
here in the United States, a topic that
typically gets overlooked.
Salisbury, G. (1995). Under the Blood-Red
Sun (Reprint ed.). New York: Yearling.



Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon
Society
This autobiography about the author
describing her experiences growing up
in China during the Second World War.
First published in 1999, Chinese
Cinderella is a revised version of part
of her 1997 autobiography, Falling
Leaves. Her mother dies two weeks
after giving birth to her (of fever) and
she is known to her family as bad luck.
This book would be at 10
th
or 11
th

grade reading level. It would be very
appropriate because it shows the
perspective of a Chinese girl, a rather
unique perspective.
Mah, A. Y. (2010). Chinese Cinderella.
Ember.