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SAL
Under the Blood-Red Sun (age 10+)
by Graham Salisbury
war ... identity ... friendship ... historical
Publisher comments: Tomi was born in Hawaii. His grandfather and parents were born in Japan, and came to America to escape poverty. World War II seems far away from Tomi and his friends, who are too busy playing ball on their eighth-grade team, the Rats. But then Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese, and the United States declares war on Japan. Japanese men are rounded up, and Tomi's father and grandfather are arrested. It's a terrifying time to be Japanese in America. But one thing doesn't change: the loyalty of Tomi's buddies, the Rats.
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HUN
Warriors Super Edition (age 10+)
by Erin Hunter
war ... adventure ... fantasy
Publisher comments: There is peace at last between the warrior Clans, and all four are thriving. Then Firestar, legendary leader of ThunderClan, discovers a shocking secret: StarClan, the warrior ancestors who guide his paw steps, have lied to him. Firestar must embark on a perilous quest to discover a long-forgotten truth. Whatever he finds at the end of his journey, he’s sure of one thing: Nothing will ever be the same again.
title: Firestar's Quest
title: Bluestar's Prophecy
title: SkyClan's Destiny
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KAD
Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam (age 10+)
by Cynthia Kadohata
historical ... adventure ... friendship ... animals ... war
CRACKER IS ONE OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY'S MOST VALUABLE WEAPONS: a German shepherd trained to sniff out bombs, traps, and the enemy. The fate of entire platoons rests on her keen sense of smell. She's a Big Deal, and she likes it that way. Sometimes Cracker remembers when she was younger, and her previous owner would feed her hot dogs and let her sleep in his bed. That was nice, too. Rick Hanski is headed to Vietnam. There, he's going to whip the world and prove to his family and his sergeant (and everyone else who didn't think he was cut out for war) wrong. But sometimes Rick can't help but wonder that maybe everyone else is right. Maybe he should have just stayed at home and worked in his dad's hardware store. When Cracker is paired with Rick, she isn't so sure about this new owner. He's going to have to prove himself to her before she's going to prove herself to him. They need to be friends before they can be a team, and they have to be a team if they want to get home alive.
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YOL
The Devil's Arithmetic (age 10+)
by Jane Yolen
identity ... war ... historical
Hannah dreads going to her family's Passover Seder ... she's tired of hearing her relatives talk about the past. But when she opens the front door to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah, she's transported to a Polish village in the year 1942, where she becomes caught up in the tragedy of the time.
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KEI
Rifles For Watie (age 10+)
by Harold Keith
war ... historical
Sixteen-year-old Jefferson Davis Bussey cannot wait to join the Army and defend the Union against the dreaded Colonel Watie, but when he is assigned to infiltrate the enemy camp as a spy, he discovers the rebels are boys and men just like him, and he must then decide whether to betray his enemies or join them.
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LAW
Lord of the Nutcracker Men (age 10+)
by Iain Lawrence
family ... historical ... war
Ten-year-old Johnny eagerly plays at war with the army of nutcracker soldiers his toymaker father whittles for him. He demolishes imaginary foes. But in 1914 Germany looms as the real enemy of Europe, and all too soon Johnny's father is swept up in the war to end all wars. He proudly enlists with his British countrymen to fight at the front in France. The war, though, is nothing like what any soldier or person at home expected. The letters that arrive from Johnny's dad reveal the ugly realities of combat ... and the soldiers he carves and encloses begin to bear its scars. Still, Johnny adds these soldiers to his armies of Huns, Tommies, and Frenchmen, engaging them in furious fights. But when these games seem to foretell his dad's real battles, Johnny thinks he possesses godlike powers over his wooden men. He fears he controls his father's fate, the lives of all the soldiers in no-man's land, and the outcome of the war itself.
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COL
War Comes to Willy Freeman (age 10+)
by James Lincoln Collier
war ... adventure ... historical
Catalog: A free thirteen-year-old black girl in Connecticut is caught up in the horror of the Revolutionary War and the danger of being returned to slavery when her patriot father is killed by the British and her mother disappears.
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HUN
Warriors: Omen of the Stars (age 10+)
by Erin Hunter
war ... adventure ... fantasy
Publisher comments: Four warrior Clans have shared the land around the lake as equals for many moons. But a prophecy foretells that three ThunderClan cats will hold the power of the stars in their paws. Jayfeather and Lionblaze know that they are two of the cats in the prophecy. Now the brothers must wait for a sign from StarClan to discover the identity of the third cat. Meanwhile, Dovekit and Ivykit¿kin of the great leader Firestar¿are poised to become ThunderClan apprentices. Soon one sister will have an ominous dream¿and will begin to realize that she possesses mystical skills unmatched by any other cat. In the midst of a cruel season that threatens the lives of all four warrior Clans, bonds will be forged, promises made, and three young cats will start to unravel the secrets that bind them together.
title: The Fourth Apprentice
title: Fading Echoes
title: Night Whispers
title: Sign of the Moon
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HUN
Warriors, Power of Three Series (age 10+)
by Erin Hunter
war ... adventure ... fantasy
In a troubled time for the Clans, three young cats, grandchildren of the legendary Firestar, begin their training as warriors and, in the course of many adventures, discover their true destiny.
title: The Sight
title: Dark River
title: Outcast
title: Eclipse
title: Long Shadows
title: Sunrise
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HUN
The Warriors Series (age 10+)
by Erin Hunter
war ... adventure ... fantasy
In the first book, Into the Wild, Rusty starts out as an ordinary house kitten, but his travels deep into the forest involve him in the epic battles of the cat warrior clans who roam (and rule) the wild. With a new name, Firepaw, and a position as a ThunderClan apprentice, our feline hero faces his destiny, struggles with issues of friendship, honour, courage, and betrayal, and learns what it truly means to be a warrior.
title: Into the Wild
title: A Dangerous Path
title: The Darkest Hour
title: Dawn
title: Fire and Ice
title: Forest of Secrets
title: Sunset
title: Twilight
title: Midnight
title: Moonrise
title: Rising Storm
title: Starlight
title: Warriors Field Guide: Secrets of the Clans
title: Cats of the Clans
title: Code of the Clans
title: Battles of the Clans
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PRA
The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy (age 10+)
by Terry Pratchett
action ... war ... science fiction ... humor ... adventure
The alien spaceship is in his sights. His finger is on the Fire button. Johnny Maxwell is about to set the new high score on the computer game Only You Can Save Mankind. Suddenly: ``We wish to talk.'' Huh? ``We surrender.'' The aliens aren't supposed to surrender. Now what is Johnny going to do with a fleet of alien prisoners who know their rights under the international rules of war and are demanding safe-conduct? It's hard enough trying to save Mankind from the Galactic Hordes. It's even harder trying to save the Galactic Hordes from Mankind. But it's just a game, isn't it? Isn't it?
title: Only You Can Save Mankind

Palo Verde Elementary School, Sat Aug 25 11:55:34 2012
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