The Silver Sword

Ian Serraillier

Puffin, 1993 (first published in 1956)

Paperback. 182pp. illustrated by Piers Sanford

£5.99

This is the story of four childen's struggle to stay alive throughout the years of Nazi occupation and, afterwards, their epic journey from war-torn Poland to Switzerland in search of their parents.

Based on fact, this is an extraordinarily moving account of life during and after the Second World War.

Carrie's War

Nina Bawden

Puffin, 1995

Paperback. 142pp. illus.

£4.99

Bombs were falling on London. Carrie and Nick were wartime evacuees billeted in Wales on old Mr Evans, who was a bit of an ogre, and his timid mouse of a sister. Their friend Albert was luckier, living in Druid's Bottom with Hepzibah Green and the strange Mister Johnny, and Carrie and Nick were happy to visit him there, until Carrie did a terrible thing, the worst thing she ever did in her life...

For thirty years Carrie did not speak of Druid's Bottom, and it is left to Carrie's own children to unravel the mystery of that time and its legacy of fear and silence. Gradually the story unfolds.. of the strange inhabitants of Druid's Bottom and of the awesome power of an ancient curse.

"Nick was frightened of ogres and spiders and crabs and cold water and the dentist and dark nights, but he wasn't often frightened of people. And he wasn't afraid of Mr Evans, even after that first dreadful night, because Mr Evans had false teeth that clicked when he talked."

The Machine Gunners

Robert Westall

Macmillan, 1975

Paperback. 207pp

£4.99

"Some bright kid's got a gun and 2000 rounds of live ammo. And that gun's no peashooter. It's go through a brick wall at a quarter of a mile."

Chas McGill has the second-best collection of war souvenirs in Garmouth, and he desperately wants it to be the best . When he stumbles across the remains of a German bmber crashed in the woods - its shiny, black machine-gun still intact - he grabs his chance. Soon he's masterminding his own war effort with dangerous and unexpected results...

The Machine Gunners was a winner of the Carnegie Medal.

I Am David

Anne Holm

Mammoth Books, 1989 (first published in 1963)

Paperback. 184pp.

£4.99

"David lay quite still in the darkness of the camp, waiting for the signal.

" 'You must get away tonight,' the man had told him. 'Stay awake so that you're ready just before the guard is changed. When you see me strike a match, the current will be cut off and you can climb over - you'll have half a minute for it, no more.' "

David escapes from a concentration camp and flees across Europe. He is utterly alone - who can he trust? What will await him back home? All the while he knows that they may catch up with him...

Voted one of the best children's books of the twentieth century in the keith Barker Millennium Awards.

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit

Judith Kerr

Collins, 1998 (first published in 1971)

Paperback. 252pp. illustrated by Judith Kerr

£5.99

Anna is too busy with schoolwork and tobogganing to listen to the talk of Hitler. But one day she and her brother are rushed out of Germany in alarming secrecy, away from everything they know. Their father is wanted by the Nazis - dead or alive. It's the start of a huge adventure, sometimes frightening, very often funny, and always, always exciting.

Goodnight Mister Tom

Michelle Magorian

Puffin, 1983

Paperback. 304pp.

£5.99

Young Willie Beech is evacuated to the country as Britain stands on the brink of the Second World War. A sad, deprived child, he slowly begins to flourish under the care of old Tom Oakley. But his new found happiness is shattered by a summons from his mother back in London.

Winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Award.

Summer Of My German Soldier

Bette Greene

Puffin, 1994 (first published in 1973)

Paperback. 208pp.

£4.99

When Patty Bergen sold a red pencil-sharpener to the German prisoner in her father's store, a friendship was started that was to bring her much unhappiness, but also the greatest joy she'd ever known. This is an unusual and moving story set in wartime Arkansas.