The mass evacuation of children and new and expectant mothers during the Second World War is well documented. But over fifty per cent of children were not evacuated during the War, and it is these young people who offer an unrivalled view of what life was like during the bombing raids in Britain's cities. In Blitz Families Penny Starns takes a new look at the children whose parents refused to bow to official pressure and kept their beloved children with them throughout the War. As she documents family after family which made this difficult decision, she uncovers tales of the deprivation, criminality and disease of life in the city and, conversely, the surprising relative emotional and physical wellbeing of those who lived through the Blitz compared to their evacuee counterparts. Because of their unique position at the heart of the action, these forgotten children offer us a priceless insight into the true grit and reality of the Blitz.

From the dangers of London streets during the Blitz to working on the high seas during the Atlantic Convoy, children were on the frontline of battle during the Second World War. In Sean Longden's retelling of the conflict, he explores how the war impacted upon a whole generation who lost their innocence at home and abroad.

When Hitler ordered his bombers to attack Southampton, the objective was clear - complete destruction of the southern port. It was a savage, relentless bombardment which left a devastated town mourning its dead. This book tells the powerful story of the young people who suffered and endured the aerial siege which followed.

From award-winning author Deborah Heiligman comes Torpedoed, a true account of the attack and sinking of the passenger ship SS City of Benares, which was evacuating children from England during WWII. Amid the constant rain of German bombs and the escalating violence of World War II, British parents by the thousands chose to send their children out of the country: the wealthy, independently; the poor, through a government relocation program called CORB. In September 1940, passenger liner SS City of Benares set sail for Canada with one hundred children on board. When the war ships escorting the Benares departed, a German submarine torpedoed what became known as the Children's Ship. Out of tragedy, ordinary people became heroes. This is their story. This title has Common Core connections.

George is fascinated by World War Two. Bombers, Nazis, doodlebugs. But he discovers the reality is very different from how he had imagined it when a school trip to a World War Two museum leads to a timeslip - and George is in London at the time of the Blitz! He joins up with a group of other homeless children, struggling to survive. And then they suspect someone they know of being a German spy...

A moving and revealing insight into the real experiences of children evacuated during WWII and the families they left behind On 1 September 1939 Operation Pied Piper began to place the children of Britain's industrial cities beyond the reach of the Luftwaffe. 1.5 million children, pregnant women and schoolteachers were evacuated in 3 days. A further 2 million children were evacuated privately; the largest mass evacuation of children in British history. Some children went abroad, others were sent to institutions, but the majority were billeted with foster families. Some were away for weeks or months, others for years. Homecoming was not always easy and a few described it as more difficult than going away in the first place. In When the Children Came Home Julie Summers tells us what happened when these children returned to their families. She looks at the different waves of British evacuation during WWII and explores how they coped both in the immediate aftermath of the war, and in later life. For some it was a wonderful experience that enriched their whole lives, for others it cast a long shadow, for a few it changed things for ever. Using interviews, written accounts and memoirs, When the Children Came Home weaves together a collection of personal stories to create a warm and compelling portrait of wartime Britain from the children's perspective.

Everyone faces challenges in life. Some when we are young and some when we are older. This is a story about how British children, during WWII, persevered and overcame their situations.

“Stunning photographs” and firsthand accounts propel a book that “brings together the memories of more than 200 child survivors of the Blitz” (Daily Mail). It was not just the upheaval caused by evacuation and the blitzes that changed a generation’s childhood, it was how war pervaded every aspect of life. From dodging bombs by bicycle and patrolling the parish with the vicar’s WWI pistol, to post air raid naps in school and being carried out of the rubble as the family’s sole survivor, children experienced life in the war zone that was Britain. This reality, the reality of a life spent growing up during the Second World War, is best told through the eyes of the children who experienced it firsthand. Children in the Second World War unites the memories of over two hundred child veterans to tell the tragic and the remarkable stories of life, and of youth, during the war. Each veteran gives a unique insight into a childhood that was unlike any that came before or after. This book poignantly illustrates the presence of death and perseverance in the lives of children through this tumultuous period. Each account enlightens and touches the reader, shedding light on what it was really like on the home front during the Second World War.