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This list was built from the contributions of librarians, educators, parents, and young readers. To add your suggestions and to comment on titles you see here, please write to Alison Clement or Bruce Jensen. We welcome any information you have on titles you suggest, such as age/reading level, publishers, and your thumbnail reviews or personal experiences with the books.
Every book its reader. Assigning age levels to books is an imprecise endeavor at best. We've labeled the English-language titles according to four rough age groups. Your mileage my vary, but PRE should be suitable for preschool and the beginning grades; ERL for kids in the early elementary grades; MID for preteens to early teens, and YA for young—and formerly young—adults. MID Ain't Gonna Study War No More: The Story of America's Peace Seekers Milton Meltzer YA All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque MID And One For All Theresa Nelson YA Back the Attack! Remixed War Propaganda Micah Ian Wright PRE Bang, Bang, You're Dead Sandra Scoppetone ERL Baseball Saved Us Ken Mochizuki MID The Big Book for Peace Ann Durrell and Marilyn Sachs, editors MID The Blue Boy Martin Auer and Simone Klages PRE Blue Jay in the Desert Marlene Shigekawa PRE The Bomb and the General Umberto Eco MID The Breadwinner Deborah Ellis PRE The Butter Battle Book Dr. Seuss YA Catch-22 Joseph Heller YA Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut ERL The Cello of Mr. O Jane Cutler MID The Day the Earth Was Silent Michael McGuffee PRE Dear Ichiro Jean Davies Okimoto MID Echoes of War Robert Westall YA Ender's Game Orson Scott Card ERL Faithful Elephants Yukio Tsuchiya YA Fallen Angels Walter Dean Myers PRE The Story of Ferdinand Munro Leaf MID The Fighting Ground Avi ERL The Flame of Peace: A Tale of the Aztecs Deborah Lattimore YA The Flash of Hiroshima (Hiroshima no pika) Toshi Maruki YA Forever Peace Joe Haldeman YA The Forever War Joe Haldeman MID The Fragile Flag Jane Langton ERL Gandhi Demi
MID
Gavriel and Jemal: Two Boys of Jerusalem Brent Ashabranner
YA George Johnson's War Maureen McCallum Garvie and Mary Beaty ERL Gleam and Glow Eve Bunting PRE Grandpa's Face Eloise Greenfield MID Habibi Naomi Shihab Nye ERL The Hat Faith and John Hubley PRE Here Comes the Cat! Frank Asch and Vladimir Vagin PRE Home of the Brave Allen Say MID I Dream of Peace: Images of War Children of the former Yugoslavia YA I Had Seen Castles Cynthia Rylant YA The Incredible Tide Alexander Key PRE Island of the Skog Steven Kellogg PRE It's Mine! Leo Lionni YA Jarhead Anthony Swofford MID John Black's Body Ben Martin The complete 1939 edition published online YA Johnny Got His Gun Dalton Trumbo PRE The Knight and the Dragon Tomie DePaola MID The Last Flower: A Parable In Pictures James Thurber ERL The Little Weaver of Thai-Yen Village Khanh Tuyet Tran YA Lord of the Flies William Golding ERL Magic Dogs of the Volcanoes Manlio Argueta PRE A Million Visions of Peace: Wisdom from the Friends of Old Turtle Jennifer Garrison and Andrew Tubesing PRE Mole Music David McPhail PRE Mouse Creeps Peter Harris MID My Hiroshima Junko Morimoto MID My Shalom, My Peace: Paintings and Poems by Jewish and Arab Children Jacob Zim, editor YA 1968 Joe Haldeman ERL One and Seven Gianni Rodari YA On the Beach Nevil Shute MID On the Wings of Peace Sheila. Hamanaka, editor MID An Outbreak of Peace Sarah Pirtle MID Parvanna's Journey Deborah Ellis ERL Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story Ken Mochizuki MID Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam Walter Dean Myers MID Peace and Bread: The Story of Jane Addams Stephanie Sammartino McPherson PRE Peace Begins With You Katherine Scholes ERL Peace Crane Sheila Hamanaka PRE Peace Is a Circle of Love Joan Walsh Anglund ERL Peace on the Playground: Nonviolent Ways of Problem-Solving Eileen Lucas MID Peace Tales Margaret Read MacDonald YA People Power: A Look at Nonviolent Action and Defense Susan Neiburg Terkel YA A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn ERL The Pig War Betty Baker YA The Pity of War Niall Ferguson ERL Pink and Say Patricia Polacco MID The Princess and the Admiral Charlotte Pomerantz PRE Potatoes Potatoes Anita Lobel MID The Pushcart War Jean Merrill
PRE
Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale Marcus Pfister MID Rilla of Ingleside L.M. Montgomery MID The Road From Home: The Story of an Armenian Girl David Kherdian MID Rose Blanche Roberto Innocenti ERL The Roses In My Carpet Rukhsana Khan MID Running on Eggs Anna Levine MID Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes Eleanor Coerr ERL Sami and the Time of the Troubles Judith Heide Gilliland and Florence Parry Heide MID Samir and Yonatan Daniella Carmi MID Search for Peace: The Story of the United Nations William Jay Jacobs ERL The Secret Grove Barbara Cohen MID Shattered: Stories of Children and War Jennifer Armstrong, editor ERL Shin's Tricycle Tatsuharu Kodama and Noriyuki Ando ERL The Silence of the Mountains Liz Rosenberg PRE Six Crows Leo Lionni YA Slap Your Sides M.E. Kerr YA Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut PRE Somewhere Today: A Book of Peace Shelley Moore Thomas YA The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings from the Middle East and North Africa Naomi Shihab Nye, editor MID A Special Fate: Chiune Sugihara: Hero of the Holocaust Alison Leslie Gold MID Stepping on the Cracks M. D. Hahn YA Survivors: An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide Lorna Touryan Miller and Donald Eugene Miller MID A Swiftly Tilting Planet Madeleine L'Engle
PRE
Swimmy Leo Lionni
YA Talking Peace: A Vision for the Next Generation Jimmy Carter PRE The Three Astronauts Umberto Eco and Eugenio Carmi PRE The Tin Heart Karen Ackerman MID Torn Thread Anne Isaacs PRE The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs/ By A. Wolf Jon Scieszka YA Twenty-Four Eyes Sakae Tsuboi PRE The Upstairs Cat Karla Kuskin MID Voices From Vietnam Barry Denenberg ERL The Wall Eve Bunting MID The War Anais Vaugelade PRE War and Peace Toni Goffe ERL War and Peas Michael Foreman MID War and the Pity of War Neil Philip, editor ERL War Boy: A Country Childhood Michael Foreman YA War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning Chris Hedges YA The War Prayer Mark Twain YA War Year Joe Haldeman YA What Every Person Should Know About War Chris Hedges YA When the Winds Blow Raymond Briggs PREWho's In Rabbit's House? Vera Aardema ERL Why? Nikolai Popov YA Why Do They Hate Me? Young Lives Caught In War and Conflict Laurel Holliday ERL World War Won Dav Pilkey Out of print, but published here on Pilkey's website YA You Back the Attack! We'll Bomb Who We Want! Micah Ian Wright ERL Young Peacemakers Project Book Kathleen Fry-Miller, Judith Myers-Walls
YA
Zlata's Diary Zlata Filip A la diestra de Dios Padre Tomás Carrasquilla Así amaneció en Siboney y otros cuentos del Caribe Flor Romero Aventuras de Aitana en el Amazonas Flor Romero El barco sin capitán Nohra Puccini de Rosado Las batallas de Rosalino Triunfo Arciniegas El béisbol nos salvó Ken Mochizuki La Bolivariada Dora Castellanos El cuento de Ferdinando Munro Leaf Cañones y manzanas Adela Turin La Casa del abuelo y La Casa del Arco Iris Fanny Buitrago Catalino Bocachica Luis Darío Bernal Colombia, mi abuelo y yo Pilar Lozano Cuchilla de Evelio José Rosero Cuentos de Pombo Rafael Pombo La cueva de los 8 encantamientos Flor Romero El día que condoresa extravió su plumaje Flor Romero La Expedición Botánica contada a los niños Elisa Mujica Ferdinando Munro Leaf Guerra del chocolate Robert Cormier La Guaca y Guía de Literatura Infantil Rocío Velez de Piedrahíta Juan Sábalo Leopoldo Berdella de la Espriella Letras de paz UNEDA/UNESCO Un libro para soñar Flor Romero El mohan enamorado Flor Romero Noche de humo Eve Bunting Los perros mágicos de los volcanes Manlio Argueta Pink y Say Patricia Polacco ¿Por qué? Nikolai Popov Rosa Blanca Roberto Innocenti Sapo y el forastero Max Velthuijs Un pasito y otro pasito Tomie de Paola Verdadera historia de los 3 cerditos Jon Scieszka Zoro Jairo Anibal Niño Futari no Eda Miyoko Matsutani Hachigatsu ga Kurutabini Hide Oe Hiroshima no Pika Toshi Maruki Hiroshima no Uta Sukeyuki Imanishi Hotaru no Haka Akiyuki Nosaka ALSO AVAILABLE AS A SUBTITLED ANIMATED VIDEO + DVD Nijushi no Hitomi Sakae Tsuboi Comics, Graphic Novels, and Manga 411 Marvel Comics THREE-VOLUME ANTHOLOGY DEBUTING SPRING 2003 Attitude: The New Subversive Policital Cartoonists Ted Rall, editor Fax From Sarajevo Joe Kubert GRAPHIC NOVEL Get Your War On David Rees The Great Big Book of Tomorrow: A Treasury of Cartoons Tom Tomorrow ERUDITE POLITICAL SATIRE The Little Tin-Pot General and the Old Iron Woman Raymond Briggs GRAPHIC NOVEL Maus: A Survivor's Tale Art Spiegelman HISTORICAL GRAPHIC NOVEL Maus II Art Spiegelman HISTORICAL GRAPHIC NOVEL Mutant Hanako Makoto Aida IN THE ANTHOLOGY SECRET COMICS JAPAN Notes From a Defeatist Joe Sacco GRAPHIC JOURNALISM Palestine: In the Gaza Strip Joe Sacco GRAPHIC JOURNALISM Peace Party Rob Schmidt COMIC BOOK SERIES Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995 Joe Sacco GRAPHIC JOURNALISM 100 Picture Books for Peace—Mohawk Valley (NY) Library Association Books About Peace, Nonviolence, Tolerance—Skokie Public Library Books for Peace—PeaceQuest Foundation Books for Reducing Violence—National Council for the Social Studies Book Resources: Peacemakers—Cayuga Heights Elementary School Children's Peace Bibliography—Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse
Militarism and the Arms Race—Appalachian Peace and Justice Network Peace Bibliography—Monroe County Public Library, Indiana Preschool Peace Curriculum materials list—Bluffton College Promoting Peace—Cary Memorial Library, Massachusetts
Trade Books for Reducing Violence—Ronald and Mary Banaszak
Atrium Society's Youth Peace Literacy Project Classroom Resources—Educating for Peace Institute for Peace and Justice War and Peace Literature for Children and Young Adults: A Resource Guide to Significant Issues Virginia Walter
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Latest revision: August 15, 2003
Bruce Jensen
Read Alison's comments in USA Today
Scope: With few exceptions, every book in the English-language portion of this list involves war or its consequences. Much as we love many of the great children's books that address themes such as bullying and conflict resolution, we shaped this list around themes of war as waged by nations and other large violent groups. The most frequent exceptions are found among books for very young readers. Such books often deal with war through metaphors and parables; we feel there are many titles for this age group that, though not explicitly about war, are entirely consonant with the thrust of this list. Many excellent bibliographies are available that take a less strictly focused approach than ours. Their interpretation of peace themes makes room for positive messages of friendship, cooperation, and personal conflict resolution We have included links to several of those lists.
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