An image of a selection of children’s books about the Second World War on a dark blue background with a fighter plane illustration

Article-Card-Puffin-Books-WW2.jpg

Children's reading lists

The best children’s books about the Second World War

A photo of a young girl with her back to the camera, standing in a sports hall with a football under her arm. There are other children in the background

Article-Card-Puffin-Sports-Books-Update.jpg

14 books for sports-obsessed kids

Maybe

It's 1946. The war is over and Europe lies in ruins. Fourteen year old Felix dreams of finding happiness elsewhere. When he's offered the chance to go to Australia, he seizes the opportunity. So does someone very dear to him, even though she wasn't actually invited. Felix and Anya have high hopes for a new life in Australia, but before they can accept the love and friendship of their new land they must confront the murderous urge for revenge that still hangs over them. 
Felix knows he hasn't faced anything like this before. He may not survive, but he's hoping he will. Maybe. 
 
This powerfully moving addition to Morris Gleitzman's bestselling series takes place in 1945, following directly on from the story told in Soon. This intensely affecting story will move readers of all ages. It will be welcomed by the many Holocaust educators who use Once and the sequels to teach upper primary and lower secondary children and embraced by any reader who loves passionate, moving and brilliant stories.

Morris Gleitzman was born in Lincolnshire and moved to Australia in his teens. He worked as a paperboy, a shelf-stacker, a frozen chicken de-froster, an assistant to a fashion designer and more before taking a degree in Professional Writing at Canberra College and becoming a writer. He has written for TV, stage, newspapers and magazines but is best-known for his hugely succesful children's books including Two Weeks with the Queen, Bumface and Once.

It's 1946. The war is over and Europe lies in ruins. Fourteen year old Felix dreams of finding happiness elsewhere. When he's offered the chance to go to Australia, he seizes the opportunity. So does someone very dear to him, even though she wasn't actually invited. Felix and Anya have high hopes for a new life in Australia, but before they can accept the love and friendship of their new land they must confront the murderous urge for revenge that still hangs over them. 
Felix knows he hasn't faced anything like this before. He may not survive, but he's hoping he will. Maybe. 
 
This powerfully moving addition to Morris Gleitzman's bestselling series takes place in 1945, following directly on from the story told in SOON.This intensely affecting story will move readers of all ages. It will be welcomed by the many Holocaust educators who use Once and the sequels to teach upper primary and lower secondary children and embraced by any reader who loves passionate, moving and brilliant stories.

and other funny stories

Snot Chocolate

A collection of short stories in the popular style of Morris Gleitzman's Give Peas a Chance and Pizza Cake - except, of course, even funnier! In the title story, a kid struggles to save the career and reputation of a parent afflicted with chronic unconscious nose-picking.

A collection of hilarious short stories that middle-school readers will love. 
 
Stop your mum picking her nose, read the secret diary of a dog, catch a bus and then let it go, discover how one slice of toast can make you the most popular person in school, start wearing a crown and give up eating pig-nostril gruel, use a wrecking ball to defeat a bully, show your big sister the scary secret in your wardrobe, unleash the awesome power of chips, live in a house that gets wiped clean more often than a bottom.

Soon

Soon is the 4th powerfully moving addition to Morris Gleitzman's bestselling Second World War series about Felix and Zelda. 
 
The war has officially ended, but the streets are still a battleground - for food, for shelter, for protection. Felix is in hiding to stay safe, but has been left holding the baby - literally. Felix vows protect the infant, just as a few incredible people saved him from the Holocaust. 
 
This immensely affecting story will move readers of all ages and will be welcomed by the many Holocaust educators who use Once and the sequels with upper primary and lower secondary children. 
 
The other books in the sequence, Once, Then, After, Soon, Maybe and Now are also available from Puffin.

Haunting . . . dangerous and desperate, but also full of courage and hope

Nail-biting . . . prepare for shock and tears

The Second World War has officially ended, but the streets are still a battleground - for food, for shelter, for protection . . . 
 
Felix is in hiding to stay safe, but finds he has been left holding the baby - literally. An orphaned infant has been left in his care and he will do everything he can to protect the child, in the way a few incredible people did for him during the Holocaust. 
 
This powerfully moving addition to Morris Gleitzman's bestselling series about Felix and Zelda takes place in 1945, following the story told in After. This intensely affecting story will move readers of all ages. It will be welcomed by the many Holocaust educators who use Once, and the sequels to teach upper primary and lower secondary children and embraced by any reader who loves passionate, moving and brilliant stories.

Two Weeks with the Queen

'I need to see the Queen about my sick brother.' 
Colin Mudford is on a quest. His brother Luke has cancer and the doctors in Australia don't seem to be able to cure him. Sent to London to stay with relatives, Colin is desperate to do something to help Luke. He wants to find the best the doctor in the world. Where better to start than by going to the top? Colin is determined to ask the Queen for her advice. 
In Morris Gleitzman's trademark style, this very moving story illuminates deeply serious issues about illness and loss with bright moments of humour.

'I need to see the Queen about my sick brother.' 
 
Colin Mudford is on a quest. His brother Luke has cancer and the doctors in Australia don't seem to be able to cure him. Sent to London to stay with relatives, Colin is desperate to do something to help Luke. He wants to find the best the doctor in the world. Where better to start than by going to the top? Colin is determined to ask the Queen for her advice. 
 
In Morris Gleitzman's trademark style, this very moving story illuminates deeply serious issues about illness and loss with bright moments of humour.

Bumface

Angus dreams of being bold, brave, wild and free, like Bumface the pirate in the stories he tells his younger siblings. Instead he's his mum's Mr Dependable, always looking after the younger ones and cleaning up. He's desperate to stop his mum adding another baby to the family so comes up with a plan to prevent her getting pregnant. With a bit of help from his new friend, Rindi, he might just do it . . .

The funniest and most refreshing read of the year

Loyal Creatures

Loyal Creatures is the deeply moving story of war horse Daisy and her 16-year-old owner Will, sent from the Australian outback to the gruelling Middle Eastern campaign of the First World War. Their skill in finding water is vital to their regiment in the desert, but their devotion to each other is what keeps them alive in an overwhelmingly hostile environment. Is their unwavering loyalty enough to determine their destiny? 
 
The story was inspired by Michael Morpurgo's international bestseller War Horse and is closely based on historical record. Morris Gleitzman is the author of the highly acclaimed war novels Once, Then, Now and After..

Tender and terrible; beautiful, brave and brutal, Morris Gleitzman has written a most remarkable story of men and horses in war, uncompromising and unflinching in its portrayal of the agonies of the First World War for men and horses alike. Sparely and supremely well written, this is quite simply one of very best novels I have read. MICHAEL MORPURGO.

Loyal Creatures is the deeply moving story of war horse Daisy and her 15-year-old owner Will, sent from the Australian outback to the gruelling Middle Eastern campaign of the First World War. Their skill in finding water is vital to their regiment in the desert, but their devotion to each other is what keeps them alive in an overwhelmingly hostile environment. Is their unwavering loyalty enough to determine their destiny? 
 
This superbly affecting and fascinating story was inspired by Michael Morpurgo's international bestseller War Horse. Morris Gleitzman is the author of the highly acclaimed war novels Once, Then, Now and After.

Extra Time

Premiership football as you've never seen it before. Morris Gleitzman, bestselling author of Bumface and Two Weeks with the Queen, introduces us to a marauding fluffy mascot, a wise-as-an-owl landlady and a WAG called Terrine, in an irresistible story of how one boy helps stressed-out top footballers find the fun in a kickabout again, with help from his fearsome agent (and little sister), Bridie.

After

After is the third shocking, funny and heartbreaking book in Morris Gleitzman's Second World War series. 
 
After 
 
The Nazis took my parents I was scared 
 
After 
 
They killed my best friend I was angry 
 
After 
 
They ruined my thirteenth birthday I was determined to get to the forest, to join forces with Gabriek and Yuli, to be a family, to defeat the Nazis after all 
 
'Haunting . . . dangerous and desperate, but also full of courage and hope' - Guardian 
'You will laugh . . . prepare for shock and tears' - Sunday Times 
 
After is the third in a series of children's novels about Felix, a Jewish orphan caught in the middle of the Holocaust, from Australian author Morris Gleitzman - author of Bumface and Two Weeks with the Queen. The other books in the series, Once, Then, After, Soon, Maybe and Now are also available from Puffin.

One of the reasons this humane and carefully crafted book is so readable is that the author celebrates ordinariness and childishness even as he chronicles terrible cruelty. But prepare for shock and tears.

Nicolette Jones (on Then, children's book of the week)

Haunting . . . dangerous and desperate, but also full of courage and hope.

[Morris Gleitzman] has accomplished something extraordinary.

Extraordinary . . . one of the finest children's novels written in the last 25 years . . . Narrative at its gripping best

Morris Gleitzman was born in Lincolnshire and moved to Australia in his teens. He worked as a paperboy, a shelf-stacker, a frozen chicken de-froster, an assistant to a fashion designer and more, before taking a degree in Professional Writing at Canberra College and becoming a writer. He has written for TV, stage, newspapers and magazines but is best known for his hugely successful children's books including Two Weeks with the Queen, Bumface, Once and Then.

Following a heartbreaking struggle to survive as a Jewish child in Germany, Felix faces perhaps his greatest challenge - to find hope when he's lost almost everything. As Europe goes through the final agonizing stages of the war, Felix struggles to reconcile hatred and healing. He's helped by a new friend, but if he should lose her as well . . .

Pizza Cake

Morris Gleitzman has a rare gift for writing very funny stories and an even rarer gift of wrapping very serious stories inside them

Morris Gleitzman was born in Lincolnshire and moved to Australia in his teens. He worked as a paperboy, a shelf-stacker, a frozen chicken de-froster, an assistant to a fashion designer and more, before taking a degree in Professional Writing at Canberra College and becoming a writer. He has written for TV, stage, newspapers and magazines but is best known for his hugely successful children's books including Two Weeks with the Queen, Bumface, Once and Then. Pizza Cake is his thirty-third book.

STORIES WITH THE LOT! 
 
Save ten lives with a paperclip, discover how a big banana can ruin your sister's holiday, make a new friend with a garbage bin, develop a taste for sheep's spleen and chips, bounce on a vampire's bed, rescue your dad from a dog and a spider, use a toilet roll to get justice, upset the neighbours with a pickaxe, eat a pizza that makes you fearless, and imagine a world where teachers earn more money than a rock star.

Too Small To Fail

Morris Gleitzman gives form to human faith - gives it a clear sweet voice and a gaze of perfect directness.  His story hovers above the fathomless atrocities it recounts, speaking the truth simply, to devastating effect. 'Once' and 'Then' are books for all ages and all times

Morris Gleitzman was born in Lincolnshire and moved to Australia in his teens. He worked as a paperboy, a shelf-stacker, a frozen chicken de-froster, an assistant to a fashion designer and more, before taking a degree in Professional Writing at Canberra College and becoming a writer. He is best known for his hugely successful children's books including Two Weeks with the Queen, Bumface, Once, Then and Now.

1 boy. 1 girl. 1 camel. 
Squillions of dollars. 
A plan that can't fail. Or can it? 
 
Oliver's parents own a bank. This makes them very rich, very important and very busy. Oliver, on the other hand, is terrible at maths and aspires to nothing more than owning the puppy that he frequently visits at his local pet shop. 
 
When a mysterious woman buys the puppy and threatens to harm it if Oliver can't return her thousand of dollars (unfortunately, Oliver's parents seem to have misplaced her life savings. Something to do with some stuff on the news.) Oliver hatches a plan which will take him further than he ever imagined...

Grace

Morris Gleitzman was born in Lincolnshire and moved to Australia in his teens. He worked as a paperboy, a shelf-stacker, a frozen chicken de-froster, an assistant to a fashion designer and more, before taking a degree in Professional Writing at Canberra College and becoming a writer. He has written for TV, stage, newspapers and magazines but is best known for his hugely successful children's books including Two Weeks with the Queen, Bumface, Once, Then and Now.

In the beginning there was me and Mum and Dad and the twins. And talk about happy families, we were bountiful. 
 
But it came to pass that I started doing sins. 
 
And lo, that's when all our problems began...

Now is the sixth shocking, funny and heartbreaking book in Morris Gleitzman's Second World War series. 
 
Sometimes facing the past is the bravest act of all... 
 
ONCE 
I didn't know about my grandfather Felix's scary childhood. 
 
THEN 
I found out what the Nazis did to his best friend Zelda. 
 
NOW 
I understand why Felix does the things he does. 
 
At least he's got me. My name is Zelda too. This is our story. 
 
Now is the sixth in a series of children's novels about Felix, a Jewish orphan caught in the middle of the Holocaust, from Australian author Morris Gleitzman. The other books in the sequence, Once, Then, After, Soon and Maybe are also available from Puffin.

One of the reasons this humane and carefully crafted book is so readable is that the author celebrates ordinariness and childishness even as he chronicles terrible cruelty. But prepare for shock and tears

Nicolette Jones (on Then, Children's Book of the Week)

Morris Gleitzman's acclaimed story of friends Felix and Zelda in Nazi-occupied Poland has captured the hearts and minds of readers worldwide. In Now he brings this most moving of stories into the present day.

Toad Surprise

Morris Gleitzman was born in Lincolnshire and moved to Australia in his teens. He worked as a paperboy, a shelf-stacker, a frozen chicken thawer, an assistant to a fashion designer and more before taking a degree in Professional Writing at Canberra College and becoming a writer. He has written for TV, stage, newspapers and magazines but is best known for his hugely successful children's books including Two Weeks With the Queen, Bumface and Once.

A cane toad's hilarious quest to discover the true meaning of Christmas! 
 
Limpy has a dream. A dream in which cane toads and humans live happily together. Surely this time Limpy will be able to show humans how nice cane toads can be? After all, it is Christmas. And isn't Christmas a time of peace and goodwill to all men? And cane toads?

Toad Away

Limpy is fed up of seeing his relatives run over and when he hears of a place in the Amazon, where human and toad live together in harmony, he resolves to find this place for himself and to take his cousin Goliath with him. 
 
The two toads make their bumpy way to the Amazonian jungle via the claws of a migratory bird and the underside of an aeroplane seat. But the jungle is not the Utopia that Limpy had imagined and it takes the advice of some Amazonian cane toads and one wise man to finally find the secret of a harmonious life with humans!

Toad Heaven

Limpy - the heroic and slightly squashed cane toad, is back! Limpy sets off in search of a nature reserve for him and his friends and family to stay. Accompanied by Goliath he embarks on an epic adventure, but nothing goes quite according to plan.

Toad Rage

Limpy can't understand why humans hate all cane toads so much - they even squash them with their cars. He is determined to save his own family from ending up as flat as place mats. He sets off on a 'mucas-chillingly dangerous and wart-tinglingly daring journey' and risks everything to make humans see that cane toads are really very nice.

Morris Gleitzman was born in Lincolnshire and moved to Australia in his teens. He worked as a paperboy, a shelf-stacker, a frozen chicken thawer, an assistant to a fashion designer and more before taking a degree in Professional Writing at Canberra College and becoming a writer. He has written for TV, stage, newspapers and magazines but is best known for his hugely successful children's books including Two Weeks With the Queen, Bumface and Once.

Once & Then

Morris Gleitzman was born in England and moved to Australia at the age of sixteen. He has written for TV, stage, newspapers and magazines and is the bestselling author of over twenty books for children.

That's the good thing with stories. There's always a chance they can come true. 
 
Felix is lucky. Unlike the other children in the orphanage, he's certain his parents will come back for him one day. And whatever the Nazis do and however many books they burn, Felix's imagination provides him and his companions with an endless supply of stories - stories that protect them when they're on the run, shield them from the violent madness all around, give them hope when all seems lost, and one day may even save Felix's life. 
 
Once &amp; Then is a spellbinding story of hope and imagination in the most terrible circumstances. 
 
However my story turns out, I'll never forget how lucky I am.

Then

The powerful, moving story of two orphans fighting to survive in Nazi-occupied Poland.

In Then - Morris Gleitzman's heartbreaking children's novel set during the Nazi occupation of Poland during the Second World War - Jewish orphan Felix and his best friend Zelda have been captured and are on the way to a concentration camp, unless they manage to escape . . . 
 
A little hope goes a long way. 
 
I had a plan for me and Zelda. Pretend to be someone else. Find new parents, be safe forever. 
 
Then the Nazis came. 
 
My name is Felix. This is my story. 
 
Then is the second in a series of children's novels by Morris Gleitzman that began with Once about Felix, a Jewish orphan caught in the middle of the Holocaust. The other books in the sequence, Once, Then, After, Soon, Maybe and Now are also available from Puffin.

I had a plan for me and Zelda. 
 
Pretend to be someone else. 
 
Find new parents. 
 
Be safe forever. 
 
Then the Nazis came.

Give Peas A Chance

A collection of quirky, thought-provoking short stories from the hugely popular, award-winning Morris Gleitzman, featuring favourite Gleitzman characters!

Morris Gleitzman has a rare gift for writing very funny stories and wrapping very serious stories inside them

Give fun a chance! Surprise your mum with a chainsaw, be a bigger star than Tom Cruise, save the world with a plate of vegetables, start your new life in a taxi, rescue your family with a tomato, send your dad into a panic with a tractor, do a good deed with a paper bag on your head, pack your suitcase for a trip to the spleen, upset your auntie with ten kilos of chocolate, swap a bomb for three ice creams on a steam train . . . and lots more.

Doubting Thomas

Warm, funny and quirky, Doubting Thomas is the brilliant new novel about best friends, surprising adventures and itchy nipples, from award-winning author Morris Gleitzman.

A virtuoso demonstration of how you can make comedy out of the most unlikely subject

Morris Gleitzman grew up in England and went to live in Australia when he was sixteen. He worked as a frozen-chicken thawer, sugar-mill rolling-stock unhooker, fashion-industry trainee, department-store Santa, TV producer, newspaper columnist and screenwriter. Then he had a wonderful experience. He wrote a novel for young people. His many books include Boy Overboard, Toad Rage, Bumface, which was shortlisted for the Guardian Award and the Carnegie Medal, and Two Weeks with the Queen, winner of the Children's Book Award.

Thomas has very itchy nipples. It's really embarrassing. It's the most embarrassing secret he's ever had. 
 
So the question is &ndash; why are his nipples so itchy? Is it a rare and special gift or the worst thing to EVER happen to a boy? 
 
Only one thing is certain. Thomas and his best friends are in for an adventure that will take them from the sunshine of Australia to the streets of Paris . . .

Morris Gleitzman

Haunting ... dangerous and desperate, but also full of courage and hope

Morris Gleitzman has a rare gift for writing very funny stories and an even rarer gift of wrapping very serious stories inside them'

The much-anticipated final journey in the story of Felix, hero of Morris Gleitzman's multi-award-winning Once, Then, After, Soon, Maybe and Now. 
 It's fifteen years since readers were first introduced to Felix in Once and across six celebrated books, our brave young hero has survived many unforgettable and emotional journeys. Now comes the seventh and final part of Felix's story, bringing to a powerful climax a series that countless young readers around the world will remember - Always.

Morris Gleitzman

Praise for Always

Haunting ... dangerous and desperate, but also full of courage and hope

Morris Gleitzman has a rare gift for writing very funny stories and an even rarer gift of wrapping very serious stories inside them'

Books by Morris Gleitzman

Series by Morris Gleitzman

Once/Now/Then/After

Articles featuring Morris Gleitzman

The best children’s books about the Second World War

14 books for sports-obsessed kids

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter