Top Ten Tuesday: Books Recently Added to My TBR List

I haven't done a top ten list in a long long time. So long, in fact, that it is no longer hosted by The Broke and the Book, but is now run by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. But it still works pretty much the same: each Tuesday a topic is given and participants post their Top Ten list accordingly.

This week's topic is the top ten most recent additions to my to-be-read list, and here is mine:

How I Became a Spy by Deborah Hopkinson

Alfred A. Knopf, 2019, 272 pages

It's 1944, everyone knows the invasion of France is coming but plans must be kept top secret. One night during a bombing raid on London by the Germans, Bertie, 13, finds a small red notebook dropped by a young American girl about the same age. In it are notes about spying and some are written in code.  Who is the American girl? And why does she have this notebook? Can Bertie figure out the code? I can tell that this is going to be a fun mystery to read.

The Skylarks' War by Hilary McKay

Macmillan Children's Books, 2018, 320 pages

This is a World War I story. I read the American edition of this and decided to read the original British edition. It is the story of Clarry and her older brother Peter and their family in WWI and Clarry's efforts to carry on normally after their beloved older cousin Rupert goes off to fight in the war. 

Our Castle by the Sea by Lucy Strange

Chicken House, 2019, 336 pages

I heard nothing but good buzz about this book, and I knew I had to read it. It sounds like an exciting story set a lighthouse on the southern coast of England beginning in 1939, just as WWII breaks out. Petra and her sister have grown up in the lighthouse, hearing stories about sea monsters and Daughter of Stone legends, along with whispers about secret tunnels. It should be an exciting book and I can't wait to read it. 

Resistance by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Scholastic Press, 2018, 400 pages

I've had this book sitting on my TBR shelf for a while and I'm looking forward to a calmer year and more reading time to really get into this book. Teenage Chaya is Jewish and living in Nazi-occupied Poland. After her younger brother disappears, and her younger sister is taken away, Chaya decides to do something. Joining the resistance is perfect for her. With her fair looks, she can really get away with a lot right under the eyes of the Nazis. Eventually, she finds herself fighting in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. I've read a lot of resistance stories and this one sounds just riveting. 

Standing Up Against Hate: How Black Women in the Army 

Helped Change the Course of WWII

Mary Cronk Farrell, 2019, 208 pages

Anyone who has read Farrell's earlier book, Pure Grit: How WWII Nurses in the Pacific Survived Combat and Prison Camp, knows they are going to find the same well-written, well-researched honest approach to this book. Although black women could enlist in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), they faced a much more difficult life than their white counterparts. These brace women faced segregation, discrimination, prejudice, second-class conditions, and yet they served with honor, valor, and dignity. This should prove to be an informative look at the all-black 6888th Central Postal Delivery Battalion, the only female battalion to serve overseas under the leadership of Charity Adams.

Air Raid Search and Rescue (Soldier Dogs #1)

written by Marcus Sutter, illustrated by Pat Kinsella

Turtleback Books, 2018, 224 pages

On of my kids brought this book to me because he knows I like dog stories and there aren't too many WWII books about them. Matt, 12, and his American family are already living Canterbury in the UK when war breaks out. When the United States enters the war, Matt's older brother Eric enlists in the Marines, and gives Matt his pet German Shepard, Chief. Meanwhile the family are fostering a German Jewish girl named Rachel, who had been part of the Kindertransport. My student says I'll love this book, and I can believe it. 

Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome

Holiday House, 2018, 112 pages

This sounds like it will be a small but powerful book. The student I lent my copy to loved it. After his mother dies in 1946, Langston, 11, and his father move to Chicago from Alabama. There, in a library open to everyone and not just whites, Langston discovers the poet his mother named him after. Though this is technically not a war story, it does introduced young readers to the segregation and the dangers that African Americans faced resulting in the Port Chicago Disaster of 1944.

Stolen Girl by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Scholastic Press, 2019, 208 pages

This is actually a reissue of Stolen Child, and a part of a trilogy of connected stories beginning with Making Bombs for Hitler and The War Below. After the Nazis shoot their mother and the Jews she had been hiding, Lida, 8, and her younger sister Larissa, 5, are kidnapped from their grandmother's home in the Ukraine and sent by cattle car to Germany, along with all the other Ukrainian children the Nazis took. Making Bombs for Hitler is Lida's story and Stolen Girl is Larissa's story, whose name has been changed to Nadia and I suspect it will bring these stories full circle.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Harper, 2018, 262 pages

I've read the reviews and articles about this book, and while I understand it is flawed, I would still like to read it. 

Lovely War by Julie Berry

Viking BFYR, 2019, 480 pages

This is also a WWI story, and while it is a love story, it is also a fantasy. It's just difficult to talk about without have read it, but I do know seeks to answer the ago-old question: Why are Love and War eternally drawn to one another? I'm looking forward to discovering whether Berry has come up with the answer.

Top Ten Tuesday #18: Top Ten Books I've recently added to my TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

Today's Top Ten Topic is the Top Ten Books I've recently added to my TBR.  Since I haven't read any of these yet, I am including the Goodreads description for each.

1) American Ace by Marilyn Nelson

Connor’s grandmother leaves his dad a letter when she dies, and the letter’s confession shakes their tight-knit Italian-American family: The man who raised Dad is not his birth father.
 
But the only clues to this birth father’s identity are a class ring and a pair of pilot’s wings. And so Connor takes it upon himself to investigate—a pursuit that becomes even more pressing when Dad is hospitalized after a stroke. What Connor discovers will lead him and his father to a new, richer understanding of race, identity, and each other.

2) Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

In 1945, World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia, and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, almost all of them with something to hide. Among them are  Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer toward safety.

Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not country, nor culture, nor status matter as all ten thousand people aboard must fight for the same thing: survival.

3) Anne Frank in the Secret Annex: Who was who? by the Anne Frank House

For two years during the Second World War, young, Jewish Anne Frank lived in hiding from the Nazis. Everything she experienced, thought, and felt, she confided in her diary. She was just as frank in her descriptions of the seven other people in the Annex and of the five helpers who endangered their own lives to look after them. Years later, Anne Frank’s diary became world famous. The Secret Annex was so well set up that the hiders survived there for over two years. Who were these people, how did they meet, and what happened to them?
 
This book shows the background and organization of the Annex and the personal stories of all involved, as well as their relationships and their fates. It also offers many never-before-published photographs. The result is an extraordinary group portrait that stays with the reader long after the last page is turned.

4) Journey to Munich (Maisie Dobbs #12) by Jacqueline Winspear

Working with the British Secret Service on an undercover mission, Maisie Dobbs is sent to Hitler’s Germany in this thrilling tale of danger and intrigue—the twelfth novel in Jacqueline Winspear’s New York Times bestselling “series that seems to get better with each entry” (Wall Street Journal).

It’s early 1938, and Maisie Dobbs is back in England. On a fine yet chilly morning, as she walks towards Fitzroy Square—a place of many memories—she is intercepted by Brian Huntley and Robert MacFarlane of the Secret Service. The German government has agreed to release a British subject from prison, but only if he is handed over to a family member. Because the man’s wife is bedridden and his daughter has been killed in an accident, the Secret Service wants Maisie—who bears a striking resemblance to the daughter—to retrieve the man from Dachau, on the outskirts of Munich.

The British government is not alone in its interest in Maisie’s travel plans. Her nemesis—the man she holds responsible for her husband’s death—has learned of her journey, and is also desperate for her help.

Traveling into the heart of Nazi Germany, Maisie encounters unexpected dangers—and finds herself questioning whether it’s time to return to the work she loved. But the Secret Service may have other ideas.

5) The Bettanys on the Home Front by Helen Barber

1914, and the Bettany family—fourteen-year-old twins Madge and Dick and their little sister Joey—are enjoying a seaside holiday with their guardian. But the news is disturbing and their happy time is cut short by the announcement that war has been declared.

Back home in Taverton, Madge is faced with a rapidly changing world. With Guardian away on war business and Aunt Josie preoccupied with her own family, it falls to Madge to hold the household together without neglecting the all-important world of school and the challenge of a new form which seems to have no place for her. But what is Nanny’s mysterious secret, and is she a proper person to care for Joey?

6) My Name is not Friday by Jon Walter

Well-mannered Samuel and his mischievous younger brother Joshua are free black boys living in an orphanage during the end of the Civil War. Samuel takes the blame for Joshua's latest prank, and the consequence is worse than he could ever imagine. He's taken from the orphanage to the South, given a new name -- Friday -- and sold into slavery. What follows is a heartbreaking but hopeful account of Samuel's journey from freedom, to captivity, and back again.

7) Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein

Welcome, boys and girls, readers of all ages, to the first-ever Library Olympiad! Kyle and his teammates are back, and the world-famous game maker, Luigi Lemoncello, is at it again! 
 
This time Mr. Lemoncello has invited teams from all across America to compete in the first ever LIBRARY OLYMPICS. Will it be fun? Like the commercials say. . . HELLO? It’s a Lemoncello! But something suspicious is going on . . . books are missing from Mr. Lemoncello’s library. Is someone trying to CENSOR what the kids are reading?! In between figuring out mind-boggling challenges, the kids will have to band together to get to the bottom of this mystery.
 
Now it’s not just a game—can Mr. Lemoncello find the real defenders of books and champions of libraries? Packed with puzzles, clues, and thrilling surprises, this is a deliciously fun, action-packed sequel to the New York Times bestselling Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. Let the games begin!

8) The Night Parade by Kathryn Tanquary

The last thing Saki Yamamoto wants to do for her summer vacation is trade in exciting Tokyo for the antiquated rituals and bad cell reception of her grandmother's village. Preparing for the Obon ceremony is boring. Then the local kids take an interest in Saki and she sees an opportunity for some fun, even if it means disrespecting her family's ancestral shrine on a malicious dare.

But as Saki rings the sacred bell, the darkness shifts. A death curse has been invoked... and Saki has three nights to undo it. With the help of three spirit guides and some unexpected friends, Saki must prove her worth - or say good-bye to the world of the living forever.

9) Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar

Things are only impossible if you stop to think about them. . . .

While her friends are spending their summers having pool parties and sleepovers, twelve-year-old Carolina — Carol — is spending hers in the middle of the New Mexico desert, helping her parents move the grandfather she’s never met into a home for people with dementia. At first, Carol avoids prickly Grandpa Serge. But as the summer wears on and the heat bears down, Carol finds herself drawn to him, fascinated by the crazy stories he tells her about a healing tree, a green-glass lake, and the bees that will bring back the rain and end a hundred years of drought. As the thin line between magic and reality starts to blur, Carol must decide for herself what is possible — and what it means to be true to her roots. Readers who dream that there’s something more out there will be enchanted by this captivating novel of family, renewal, and discovering the wonder of the world. 

10) Women in Black History: Stories of Courage, Faith, and Resilience by Tricia Williams Jackson

Within the pages of American history are the stories of remarkable African American women who have defied the odds, taken a stand for justice, and made incredible strides despite opposition from the culture around them. Now young readers can discover their exciting true stories in this eye-opening collection. 
From well-known figures like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks to women rarely found in any history book, "Women in Black History" explores the lives of writers, athletes, singers, activists, and educators who have made an indelible mark on our country and our culture. Perfect for kids, but also for adults who like to read about important figures and unsung heroes, this collection will delight, surprise, and challenge readers.

What's are your Top Ten TBR books?

Top Ten Tuesday #17: Top Ten Books Read in 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

This week's top ten topic is the top ten books read in 2015.  I've read more than I've blogged about this year, but I did review my favorite books, although picking a top ten was really difficult.  Anyway, here are my picks, in no particular order:

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley 

I loved Ada spirit and determination to save herself and her younger brother from the blitz and their mother despite her severely clubbed foot and never having walked before.  Some people thought the ending was too pat, but if you really think about it, it is plausible.

Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan

I loved the way three different stories from three different time periods are tied together by one harmonica and how that harmonica influenced the destinies of the young protagonists in each story.

The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: 

Knud Pederson and the Churchill Club by Philip Hoose 

Can a few people make a difference in the face of ruthless tyranny?  You bet they can, as these young Danish boys prove in their efforts to sabotage the Nazis that occupied their country in any way possible during WWII.  

Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba

by Margarita Engle

There aren't books for young readers about the Jewish refugees from Europe finding refuge in Cuba.  Engle lyrically tells the story of Daniel, 13, a refugee, who befriends Paloma, a Cuban whose father has the power to grant or deny visas to those wishing to enter Cuba, and David, a Yiddish speaking Russian and the events that surrounded Cuba from 1939 to 1942.

Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders

This is a sequel to a book by E. Nesbit written in 1902 about the adventures of five children and a Psammead.  It begins in 1914, WWI has begone and the children rediscover the Psammead.  And while the Psammead provides some humor, the novel is really more about how the war impacts the each family member.

A Prince Without a Kingdom by Timothée de Fombelle

A sequel to Vango: Between Sky and Earth, it brings the mystery about who Vango is to a satisfying conclusion, but not before lots of adventure, intrigue, suspense and a little romance.  It is a big book, as was the first volume, but oh, so worth the read.

The Tiger Who Would Be Kind by James Thurber,

illustrated by Joohee Yoon

This is an old James Thurber fable about the pointless of war that I remember reading in high school. What put it on my top ten list is the incredible illustrations by Joohee Yoon, using only a palette of green, orange, black and white to create some wonderful boldly expressive images, giving new life to this old tale.

Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott

This is a story of friendship between two girls in Auschwitz, and how they helped each other and the other girls in their barracks survive.  Told in verse and in alternating voices, readers learn about their families, their lives in Auschwitz and the one risk one girl makes for the other.

The Emperor of Any Place by Tim Wynne Jones

This is the book that surprised me the most.  I'm not a fan of zombie tales, but Wynne Jones created a story that was so compelling and so different, I ended up loving it and gushing like a schoolgirl when I met Wynne Jones.  It is really the story of a Japanese soldier, and American soldier and what happened on a south Pacific island.

Oskar and the Eight Blessings by Richard Simon and 

Tanya Simon

Before leaving Germany shortly after Kristalnacht, Oskar's father told him to always look for the blessings.  After arriving in NYC on the seventh night of Hanukkah, Oskar must walk up Broadway to 103rd Street and the aunt he's never met and who doesn't even know he is coming.  Along the way, Oskar discovers eight wonderful blessings.  

Top Ten Tuesday #16: Top Ten Books that Celebrate Diversity

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

This week's top ten topic is books that celebrate diversity.  I don't think my choices could be called  books that celebrate diversity, but they certainly put a spotlight on the way World War II impacted diverse people in different way.   I chosen 11 books that had a real impact on me as a reader when I read them.

1- Mare's War by Tanita Davis

This is one of the first books I read when I began this blog and I liked it so much I bought a copy for my niece.  Mare and her granddaughters are taking a trip to a family reunion during summer vacation.  The girls are bored and unhappy, wanting to stay home with their friends instead.  As they drive along, Mare begins to tell them about her time in the Women's Army Corp or WACS in WWII.  Because Davis wove in so many historical facts about Mare's, the 6888th Central Postal Battalion, the readers learns a lot about what like was like for the women in this African American, all-female unit, the only one to serve overseas. (YA)

2- Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman

When I reviewed this book, I wrote that I knew almost nothing about the role India played in WWII.  In 1941, Vidya, 15, wants nothing more than to join Gandhi's Freedom Fighters.  Seeing a Freedom Fighters demonstration, Veda rushes to join it, but it results in her father being beaten by a British policeman, leaving him brain damages. Vidya keeps the details of what happened to herself, until her brother announces he is going to join the voluntary British India Army.  How could he fight for and defend the people who destroyed her beloved father's lie.  There is a lot of information in Vidya's story about Indian traditions and religion.  (YA)

3- The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescured Jews during the Holocaust by Karen Gray Ruelle

The Grand Mosque had been given to the Islamic community in Paris in gratitude to the Muslims who fought in WWI.  In 1940, after France was invaded by the Nazis and began rounding up Jews for deportation, the members of the Grand Mosque, many of whom were in the French Resistance already, realized they had the means to help the French Jews and began sneaking them in the mosque until they had what they needed to escape.   (Picture Book for older Readers)

4- When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park

Although Korea had been occupied by the Japanese since 1910, once World War II began, things began to get even harder for the Korean people.  In this story about the Kim family, the reader learns through the alternating narration of Sun-hee, 10, and her older brother, Tai-yul, 13, how much of their culture was sacrificed including their Korean names and forcing them to accept Japanese culture and language.  Outwardly, the family accepts the Japanese demands, but at home the hold tightly to their Korean culture.  As they begin to lose the war, the Japanese take it out on the Korean people, but despite everything, small acts of defiance abound as the Koreans desperately hold on to their real identity. (MG)

5- Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society by Adeline Yen Mah 

This speculative fiction novel about an unwanted daughter, Ye Xian, who is thrown out of her home by her father when she is disrespectful to her stepmother.  Ye Xian is taken in by Grandma Wu, and soon becomes an expert at kung fu and part of the Secret Dragon Society that helps the oppressed.  China has been under Japanese occupation since 1937 and now, in 1942, they have a different kind of mission.  Ye Xian and the other members of the society must try to save 5 downed American fliers before the Japanese find them.  This part of the story is actually based in reality, as is the cruel way the Chinese people were treated by the Japanese occupiers.  Though fantasy, there's lots of Chinese culture and tradition to be learned about.  (MG)

6- No Surrender Soldier by Christine Kohler

The main character in this novel is a 15 year old Charmorro boy, Kiko, living in Guam in 1972 and an elderly Japanese soldier, Seto, who has been living in hiding since WWII and doesn't know the war is over.  This is an odd coming of age story for both Kiki and Seto, who was only a young man when he went into hiding from the Americans on Guam.  There is quite a bit of information about Charmorro customs and traditions, and is it very interesting to see how Seto lived in his underground cave, concealing his presence for so many years. (YA)

7- Blue by Joyce Moyer Hostetter

Until the vaccine was discovered, there were outbreaks of polio all the time.  During WWII, even the President suffered with it.  In September1944, with her father in Europe fighting, Ann Fay Honeycutt, 13, is also diagnosed with polio. The novel follows her treatment and her friendship with an African American girl she meets in the hospital.  Catawba County, NC was particularly hard hit by polio and Ann Fay's story nicely documents what was done about it.  Since there are so few cases of polio these days, it is interesting to read about how clothes and favorite toys were burned, swimming wasn't allowed, and how a makeshift hospital was constructed to handle all the cases there.  (MG)

8- Code Talkers: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War II by Joseph Bruchac

This is a historical fiction novel that tells about how the Navajo language and the Navajos who spoke it were used to send unbreakable coded messages during WWII and helped with the war.  But more than that, it is the story of what life was life for Native Americans within their family and when they were sent to an "Indian School" to be educated and where practicing their native culture and traditions could result in severe punishments.  This is the kind of novel that can make your blood boil when you read about how Native Americans were treated.   And even though they became real American heroes, it wasn't until 2000 that what they contributed to the war was acknowledged. (MG?YA)

9- Eyes of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury

This is one of the most disturbing books I've read.  Eddy Okubo, a Japanese American living in Hawaii, is only 16, but lies about his age and joins the army,  Seven weeks later, Pearl Harbor is attacked and from then on Eddy and the other Japanese American soldiers are treated like grunts.  When a Swiss emigre convinces President Roosevelt that he can train dogs to sniff out the Japanese, Eddy and 24 other soldiers of Japanese descent, are sent to Cat Island, MS where they serve as "hate bait" in the dogs training sessions.  This is, sadly, based in reality.  This is an interesting look at the kind of xenophobia that resulted after Pearl Harbor. (YA)

9a- Dash by Kirby Larson

When it was decided that Japanese Americans were to be put into internment camps for the duration of the war, they all lost everything they had worked for - homes, businesses, cars, cherished mementos from family in Japan.  For Mitsi, 11, it meant losing her best friends and her dog.  Later, at the internment camp, families are forced to live in dusty, smelly horse stalls, and later to dusty barracks in the middle of nowhere.   It's hard to believe now that this country could treat its citizens and its legal immigrants in such an appalling manner (well, actually, and I'm ashamed to say this, but maybe it isn't, after all). (MG)

10- T4 by Anne Clare LaZotte

This novel-in-free-verse is about a deaf girl, Paula Becker, who is 13 and living in Nazi Germany when the Nazis pass a law that allows them the euthanize disabled people, including children, to help create a master race that is free of any disability and also eliminate the cost of caring for them.  T4 is the name give to the program.  In desperation, Paula is taken to a safe haven where she learns sign language, but when the Nazis come to search the house, Paula must be taken to another safe haven.  T4 killings stopped in 1941 but Paula's life and other's with disabilities weren't safe until the end of the war. (MG)


It was interesting to go back and see what books I've read that I applied the keyword Diversity to.  One thing I noticed is that I have no reviews of LGTBQ books.  Any recommendations, besides Postcards from No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers?  I would appreciate any suggestions.

Top Ten Tuesday #15 - Top Ten Books I Read in 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

Picking the top ten books I've read in 2014 was no easy task, so I've decided to list the top ten books I've read here on The Children's War and list the top ten books I've read on my other blog Randomly Reading.

(I liked these books all equally well, so the list isn't from favorite to least favorite)

1- Dash by Kirby Larson
Mitsi and her family lose everything when they are forced to live in an internment camp, including her beloved dog Dash.  Luckily, a kind neighbor agrees to care for Dash.

2- The Winter Horses by Philip Kerr

When a cruel German captain orders the killing of the last of a small herd of Przewalski's horses, a young Jewish girl tries to save the mare and stallion that survive, even if it means putting herself in danger.  

3- The Prime Minister's Secret Agent by Susan Elia MacNeal

I love a good mystery and I love historical fiction, so this mystery series is perfect.  Maggie Hope is a great main character, an American who found herself in England at the start of World War II and remained there.

4- Gaijin: American Prisoner of War by Matt Faulkner

This graphic novel, illustrated in a palette of wonderful colors, tells the story of a Japanese American teen and his American mom forced to go into an internment camp and the nightmares he has about his dad, stuck in Japan when Pearl Harbor was bombed while caring for his elderly parents.

5- The Pilot and the Little Prince by Peter Sis

With his signature collage illustrations, Sis writes about the life of Antoine de Saint Exupéry, his love of flying and its connection to writing The Little Prince.  A beautiful picture book for older readers. 

6- Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald

This was a fun novel to read.  It's a great New York story, but also a nice introduction to monuments men who saved works of art in Europe during WWII.

7- Stay Where You Are & Then Leave by John Boyne

This is a poignant World War I story about a boy, his dad and PTSD.  When his dad's letters stop coming from the front lines, his young son wonders why.  Then an overheard comment in King's Cross  Station results in discovery and surprise for the son.

8- The Dead in Their Vaulted Arched by Alan Bradly and Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley

This is a two for one because I read both this year and couldn't decide which to list.  Besides, I'm really hooked on these post war mysteries.  Young Flavia de Luce is quite the amateur detective, complete with her own lab.  These are fun mysteries and I can't wait to read the next one.

9- The Children of the King by Sonya Hartnett

I loved Hartnett's The Midnight Garden and this is just as wonderful.  Two children, evacuated to the country during WWII, meet two boys who seem to be from another time.  And they are, but it is all connected as only Hartnett can do. 

10- Pure Grit: How American World War II Nurses Survived Battle and Prison Camp in the Pacific by Mary Cronk Farrell

My mom was a nurse and so I have a real soft spot for them.  This nonfiction book about nurses caught in the Pacific war, their dedication to their patients, even under harsh circumstances as POWs, is an excellent addition to women's history, especially during wartime.  

11- The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinkin
Another favorite nonfiction book, I learned so much about this almost completely unheard of event that happened in WWII, perhaps because it involved African American sailors.  This is really one of the best books I've read this year.