Goodbye, long boring lessons about World War II! I just got a copy of Great World War II Projects You Can Build Yourself in the mail from the author (disclosure: it’s from the publisher that I write for, Nomad Press). I LOVE the cover - but, dangit, can’t figure out how to upload it to this post from Amazon. 

As a middle schooler, I was fascinated with WWII, so naturally I was interested to read what this book has to offer. In just the first chapter, I learned some things that I missed during my public school education! It was a good refresher for me, but I kept thinking how much my boys would appreciate this book. Instead, my husband came home and started reading it! He promised not to do any of the projects, but while he was reading he kept “tsk, tsking”, so it must have made an impression on him.

The book is filled with valuable information about America’s participation in World War II, presented in a format that is easy to understand. Better yet, kids delve into projects that bring the era to life as they create secret codes for passing messages, airplane models, ration cakes and learn how to prepare a care package for a soldier fighting our current war.

This book tells many of the interesting stories of the war - the Navajo code talkers, the African Americans known as the Tuskegee airmen and women at home and in the danger zone. My kids will get much use from these pages (once their dad is done with it)!