Vietnam War / 1960's •--

Alvarez, Julia – Before We Were Free   (167 pages) In the early 1960s in the Dominican Republic, twelve-year-old Anita learns that her family is involved in the underground movement to end the bloody rule of the dictator, General Trujillo.  (N)

Cooper, Patrick – Tell Me Lies  (294 pages) In England in 1969, nineteen-year-old Stephen leaves his conservative home, where he is haunted by a troubled past and dread of the future, and is drawn by an old friend to a commune, whose charismatic leader speaks of finding freedom to live in the moment.  (LC)

Couloumbis, Audrey – Summer’s End   (184 pages) Three teenaged cousins worry about their uncle who is missing in Vietnam, their brothers--the one who was drafted and the two who are dodging the draft, and the effects of their absence on the four generations gathered at the family farm in the summer of 1965.  (N)

Crist-Evans, Craig – Amaryllis   (184 pages) Jimmy and his older brother Frank share a love of surfing and their problems with a drunken father, until Frank turns eighteen and goes to Vietnam.  (N)

Easton, Kelly – The Life History of a Star   (200 pages) For more than a year, fourteen-year-old Kristin uses her diary to record her confused thoughts about the physical changes brought on by adolescence and the emotional strain on her family of living with the ghost of her beloved older brother who was physically and mentally destroyed while serving in Vietnam.  (N)

Hobbs, Valerie – Sonny’s War   (215 pages) In the late 1960s, fourteen-year-old Cori's life is greatly changed by the sudden death of her father and her brother's tour of duty in Vietnam.  (N)

Hughes, Dean – Search and Destroy    (216 pages) Trying to escape an abusive father and a failed romantic relationship, Rick Ward enlists in the military and soon is on his way to fight in Vietnam. An elite member of the Charlie Rangers, Rick can’t wait to be tested in battle—until it turns out the warfare isn’t at all what he expected.  (K)

Orenstein, Denise Gosliner – Unseen Companion   (357 pages) In rural Alaska in 1969, the lives of several teenagers come together while trying to find out what happened to a sixteen-year-old boy who is missing.  (N)

Paulsen, Gary – The Car   (180 pages) A teenager left on his own travels west in a kit car he built himself, and along the way picks up two Vietnam veterans, who take him on an eye-opening journey.  (N)

Perkins,  Lynne Rae – Criss-Cross  (337 pages) Teenagers in a small town in the 1960s experience new thoughts and feelings, question their identities, connect, and disconnect as they search for the meaning of life and love.  (N)

Qualey, Marsha – Too Big a Storm   (246 pages) When serious worrier Brady Callahan meets vivacious Sally Cooper, daughter of a wealthy Minnesota family, they develop a close friendship that helps them both grow and survive during the turbulent Vietnam War era.  (N)

Saenz, Benjamin Alire – Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood    (291 pages) As a Chicano boy living in the unglamorous town of Hollywood, New Mexico, and a member of the graduating class of 1969, Sammy Santos faces the challenges of "gringo" racism, unpopular dress codes, the Vietnam War, barrio violence, and poverty.  (N)

Sharenow, Robert – My Mother the Cheerleader  (229 pages) Thirteen-year-old Louise uncovers secrets about her family and her neighborhood during the violent protests over school desegregation in 1960 New Orleans.  (N)

Vaught, Susan – Storm Witch   (200 pages) In Pass Christian, Mississippi in 1969, sixteen-year-old Ruba, trained by her Haitian grandmother in both voodoo and Amazonian warrior tactics, uses her skills to fight against racism and the African witch Zashar, now coming ashore in the form of Hurricane Camille.  (N)

Voight Cynthia – David and Jonathan   (249 pages) The relationship between two close friends, Henry and Jonathan, changes when Jonathan's cousin David, a survivor of the Holocaust, comes to live with David's family. (N)

Weaver, Beth Nixon – Rooster   (316 pages) On a small Florida orange grove in the 1960s, fourteen-year-old Kady Palmer is burdened with housework and caring for her senile grandmother and mentally handicapped neighbor, so when a rich, handsome boy from school becomes interested in her she devises a plan to spend time with him.  (N)

Weaver, Will – Full Service   (231 pages) In the summer of 1965, teenager Paul Sutton, a northern Minnesota farm boy, takes a job at a gas station in town, where his strict religious upbringing is challenged by new people and experiences.  (LOC)

White, Ellen Emerson – The Road Home   (469 pages) Rebecca, a young nurse stationed in Vietnam during the war, must come to grips with her wartime experiences once she returns home to the United States.  (N)

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