Books like Once
Loved Once by Morris Gleitzman? Here are 10 books with the same pull, and why each one fits.
About Once →10 books
- 1Number the Stars
Number the Stars
Lois LowryA Danish girl helps protect her Jewish friend from the Nazis in this short, clear children's novel about the Second World War.
Books like it → - 2The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
John BoyneA boy's innocent view of a concentration camp next to his home makes this novel for young readers a study of how children perceive war.
Books like it → - 3Goodnight Mister Tom
Goodnight Mister Tom
Michelle MagorianAn evacuated London boy is taken in by a lonely older man in the English countryside, and the book follows his healing during the war.
- 4The Devil's Arithmetic
The Devil's Arithmetic
Jane YolenA Jewish girl travels back in time to a Polish village during the Holocaust, and the book asks what it means to remember the past.
- 5Rose Blanche
Rose Blanche
Roberto InnocentiA German girl watches a concentration camp near her town from her window, in a short picture book that is often read by older children.
- 6Friedrich
Friedrich
Hans Peter RichterA German Jewish boy and his non-Jewish friend are separated by the rise of the Nazis, and the book shows how ordinary friendship was broken.
- 7The Book Thief
The Book Thief
Markus ZusakA girl in Nazi Germany steals books and shares them with her neighbours, and the narrator is Death, which gives the novel an unusual voice.
Books like it → - 8The Diary of a Young Girl
The Diary of a Young Girl
Anne FrankAnne Frank's diary, written while her family hid from the Nazis in Amsterdam, remains a direct account of hiding and daily life under occupation.
Books like it → - 9Code Name Verity
Code Name Verity
Elizabeth WeinTwo young women are caught up in the Second World War, and the novel tells their story through a confession written under interrogation.
- 10Hana's Suitcase
Hana's Suitcase
Karen LevineThis true story of a Czech girl who died in Auschwitz is told through the suitcase her brother collected, and it is written for young readers.
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