History books for teens

[wingingit1987]

Unsure if this is the best topic board for this, but my son has asked for history books for Christmas. He is almost 13, a keen reader and enjoys learning about WW2, French Revolution, Cold War etc. He hasn’t actually sent me any books he wants despite me asking for a list. I was wondering if anyone else has kids with a similar interest and can direct me at all here?

TIA

The series Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales is popular with boys that age in the United States. You might order Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood: A World War I Tale (which is a great favorite of an 11-year-old friend of mine), Cold War Correspondent: A Korean War Tale, or Blades of Freedom: A Tale of Haiti, Napoleon, and the Louisiana Purchase. These are in the style of graphic novels, but one can learn some good history from them.

DK History books are also worth considering. He might like A Short History of World War II or The History Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained.

I started reading adult history books at about 12-13. I'd recommend starting with something that is under 200 pages, perhaps with a few illustrations.

Perfect thank you so much

Dominic Sandbrook has written several (I haven’t read any so can’t give a view on how good they are).

DK timeline books are a good addition - they won't have the detail that specific books on specific periods have, but they do a really important thing of contextualizing historical events in time.

Schools tend to be bad at doing this because teachers (not their fault) have to follow the curriculum which tends to jump around focusing on different areas in isolation. But that grander understanding of when when things happen in relation to other events over time is really important.

If I were buying a few books, I would get a timeline book for an overview of history, and then specific focused books (like the ones posters above mention) about the areas he is most interested in, possibly mixing historical non-fiction and fiction.

A local history book might be worth looking at too - one with photos might encourage him to visit / notice local monuments.

The teen version of David Olusoga’s Black and British is very good.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys is a brilliant WW2 novel for that age, and The Book Thief usually lands well with keen readers too. Both would make good Christmas picks.

Amazing- thank you so much everyone

The Women who spied for Britain

A Prisoner and Yet - Corrie Ten Boom (she actually wrote a lot of books)

Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Anne Frank's Diary

Goodnight Mr Tom

Friend or Foe - Michael Morpurgo

The book thief?

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is not a good book if you want historical or linguistic accuracy at all. There are plenty of better ones if he wants to read about Auschwitz.

I'd probably look at Damien Lewis or Domonic Sandbrook.

Does he have a particular period he's interested in? If not I'd probably go with the timeline books mentioned upthread.

However, he is only 12, and presumably reading some 'children's classics' and other fiction all build up a picture and a lot of background context for perhaps more hard hitting, factual books later.

I remember reading Gerald Green's novel 'Holocaust' as a teen, and 'personalising' the individuals and families, and seeing how 'ordinary lives' intertwined and changed had quite an effect on me.