suggested books

American Turn of the Century:

The War to End All Wars: World War I by Russell Freedman (if you read this you will know more about WWI than most Americans)

Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York, 1880-1924 by Deborah Hopkinson

Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix

The Big Burn by Jeanette Ingold

WWII:

On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck

Under the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury

Their Finest Hour by Sir Winston (the MAN) Churchill (over 10 crowd—at least 100 pages)

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom (over 10 crowd)
Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot" by Tunnell (under 10 crowd)