Books like The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall
During World War II, a group of English children witnesses an air raid and stumbles upon a German machine gun. Determined to protect their discovery, they conceal it from adults who are searching for it. Amid the upheaval of war, the youngsters navigate secrecy, danger, and the moral choices imposed by the conflict around them.
First publish date: 1975
Genre: Historical Fiction/20th Century Historical Fiction
Authors: Robert Westall
★
★
★
★
★
3.0 (1 community ratings)
How are these books recommended?
The books recommended for The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall are shaped by reader interaction. Votes on how closely books relate, user ratings, and community comments all help refine these recommendations and highlight books readers genuinely find similar in theme, ideas, and overall reading experience.
Have you read any of these books?
Your votes, ratings, and comments help improve recommendations and make it easier
for other readers to discover books they’ll enjoy.
Books similar to The Machine Gunners (15 similar books)
In 1943 Copenhagen, ten‑year‑old Annemarie Johansen helps her Jewish friend Ellen Rosen escape Nazi persecution, learning courage and resilience while navigating war‑time hardships.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A nine‑year‑old girl named Ada escapes her abusive home amid World War II, joining her brother in London’s evacuation; she learns to ride a pony, reads, and finds a new family with Susan Smith while watching for German spies.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A 10‑year‑old boy named Max and his little sister live through the Nazi invasion of 1944 from a child’s perspective, illustrating survival, resistance, and the Holocaust’s impact on young Jewish families.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A 1943 British fighter pilot crash-lands in Nazi‑occupied France and recounts her daring escape, espionage, and friendship to a young French woman while concealing her true mission.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
While Nazi forces occupy France, twenty boarding‑school children hide ten Jewish peers, confronting German soldiers and the peril of interrogation during World War II.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A young baseball player trades the diamond for a tank crew, as World War II opens the North African theater.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
During WWII, a Berlin family protects an orphaned elephant, Marlene, from wartime destruction. When bombings force evacuation, they confront the extraordinary challenge of escaping with an elephant in their garden, aided by a courageous Canadian navigator.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A grand adventure with a rebellious grandmother and her adventurous granddaughters.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
During the siege of Leningrad, fourteen‑year‑old Georgi dreams of saving his city, while his family guards the heritage of the Hermitage and tends wounded soldiers in a war‑driven landscape.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
During 1943 Brooklyn, eleven-year-old Howie Crispers launches a mission to keep his beloved teacher from losing her job amid wartime school upheavals.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Your Eyes in Stars follows the unlikely friendship between a German outsider and the daughter of a prison warden in a small New York town, as their bond is tested by the haunting nightly bugle calls of a life‑serving inmate during the World War II era.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
During the German invasion of France in 1940, a performing dog whose owner is killed finds himself journeying through war‑torn countryside, touching the hearts of each new caretaker as he seeks a permanent home.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Orphaned children in the New Forest, disguised as grandchildren of a poor forester, face the challenge of survival during the Civil War era.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Some Other Similar Books
Floodland by Maggie FureyThe Silver Citadel by Clifford Beal
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Katje the Windmill Girl by Sylvia Bishop
Have a similar book in mind? Let others know!
Please login to submit books!