World War II

World War II (X)

The Book Thief

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Based on the beloved best-selling book comes an "extremely moving" (Leonard Maltin, Indiewire) story of a girl who transforms the lives of those around her during World War II Germany. When her mother can no longer care for her, Liesel (Sophie Nelisse) is adopted by a German couple (OSCAR® Winner Geoffrey Rush and OSCAR® Nominee Emily Watson). Although she arrives illiterate, Liesel is encouraged to learn to read by her adoptive father. When the couple then takes in Max (Ben Schnetzer), a Jew hiding from Hitler's army, Liesel befriends him.

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Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
02:11
The Book Thief

Women and the Holocaust: Courage and Compassion (2014)

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The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme, in partnership with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education and Yad Vashem. The Holcaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, has produced this study guide and DVD for high school students to better understand the ways in which the Holocaust affected women.

Grade Level: 
High
Women and the Holocaust: Courage and Compassion

Footprints: Discovering the Holocaust through Historical Artefacts (2014)

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This educational video was created for the Footprints of Hope project, a new initiative from the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme designed to involve students aged 13 years and older in the study of the Holocaust. This film is accompanied by a lesson plan and PowerPoint presentation titled “Ordinary Things? Discovering the Holocaust through Historical Artefacts”.

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Middle
High
Length: 
00:08
Footprints: Discovering the Holocaust through Historical Artefacts

Time of Fear (2004)

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In World War II more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were forced to leave their homes and relocate to military camps dotted across the western United States. TIME OF FEAR tells the story of the 16,000 men, women, and children who were sent to two relocation camps in southeast Arkansas--one of the poorest and most racially segregated places in America.

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Middle
High
Length: 
01:00
Time of Fear

Coming on Home Soon

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Copies: 1

Ada Ruth's mama must go away to Chicago to work, leaving Ada Ruth and Grandma behind. It's war time, and women are needed to fill the men's jobs. As winter sets in, Ada Ruth and her grandma keep up their daily routine, missing Mama all the time. They find strength in each other, and a stray kitten even arrives one day to keep them company, but nothing can fill the hole Mama left. Every day they wait, watching for the letter that says Mama will be coming on home soon. Set during World War II, Coming On Home Soon has a timeless quality that will appeal to all who wait and hope.

Lexile: 
550L

How I Learned Geography

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Copies: 2

Having fled from war in their troubled homeland, a boy and his family are living in poverty in a strange country. Food is scarce, so when the boy’s father brings home a map instead of bread for supper, at first the boy is furious. But when the map is hung on the wall, it floods their cheerless room with color. As the boy studies its every detail, he is transported to exotic places without ever leaving the room, and he eventually comes to realize that the map feeds him in a way that bread never could.

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Lexile: 
AD660L

Riverside's Mine' Okubo

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Teachers may have trouble opening this link as it is a blog post, but this is directly listed inside of the Grade 8 Module M3A - Japanese American Relations in WWII.

The blog post provides an overview of Mine' Okubo's life and character.

Transcript of Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Japan (1941)

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Transcript of Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Japan (1941)

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Unabridged)

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On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood.

Grade Level: 
Lexile: 
1010L
Length: 
13:57
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Unabridged)

The Boy on the Wooden Box

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Copies: 7

Leon Leyson loved playing on the Krakow streetcars with his friends and tagging along after his older brothers...

Then, suddenly, German soldiers were: In his country. In his city. In his home.

Seemingly overnight, the life he knew vanished. The Third Reich wanted him, and every other Jew in Europe, dead.

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Lexile: 
1000L
The Boy on the Wooden Box

A Picture Book of Eleanor Roosevelt

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Copies: 1

Eleanor Roosevelt went from being a sad, shy child to becoming an adult who reached out to people everywhere. She married Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1904. She became America's first lady, while he served as president from 1932-1945. During the years of the Great Depression, she visited towns, cities, and farms all over the country and brought hope to millions of people. She made many speeches, had a radio program, and wrote a newspaper column.

Lexile: 
AD680L
A Picture Book of Eleanor Roosevelt

Flags of Our Fathers

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In this unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history, James Bradley has captured the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America.

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Length: 
13:19
Flags of Our Fathers

Flags of Our Fathers

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In this unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history, James Bradley has captured the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America.

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Grade Level: 
Flags of Our Fathers

The Secret Project

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Copies: 6

Mother-son team Jonah and Jeanette Winter bring to life one of the most secretive scientific projects in history—the creation of the atomic bomb—in this powerful and moving picture book.

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Lexile: 
NC790L
The Secret Project

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