Big Books of 2026

Listopia > 1945 Book Lists

1984 by George OrwellAnimal Farm by George OrwellThe Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankThe Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-ExupéryThe Stranger by Albert Camus
Best Books of the Decade: 1940s
819 books — 1,144 voters
The Book Thief by Markus ZusakCode Name Verity by Elizabeth WeinBetween Shades of Gray by Ruta SepetysSalt to the Sea by Ruta SepetysRose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
YA Fiction set in the 1940s
209 books — 158 voters

1984 by George OrwellSpace Cadet by Robert A. HeinleinOrphans of the Sky by Robert A. HeinleinEarth Abides by George R. StewartAnimal Farm by George Orwell
Classic Science Fiction - 1940-1949
91 books — 121 voters
Number the Stars by Lois LowryThe War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker BradleyThe Hundred Dresses by Eleanor EstesSomeone Named Eva by Joan M. WolfLily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff
Middle Grade Fiction set in the 1940s
385 books — 80 voters

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskeyPippi Longstocking by Astrid LindgrenLittle Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls WilderCurious George by H.A. ReyThese Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Best Children's Books of the 1940s
232 books — 63 voters
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. LewisFarmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. TolkienAnimal Farm by George OrwellStuart Little by E.B. WhiteThe Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Best Fantasy of the 40s
47 books — 50 voters

Animal Farm by George OrwellStuart Little by E.B. WhitePippi Långstrump by Astrid LindgrenBrideshead Revisited by Evelyn WaughThe Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
Best Books 1945
58 books — 43 voters
They Called Us Enemy by George TakeiWeedflower by Cynthia KadohataThe Fences Between Us by Kirby LarsonDisplacement by Kiku HughesUnder the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury
Japanese American Internment in YA & Middle Grade Fiction
56 books — 26 voters

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid LindgrenThe Little White Horse by Elizabeth GoudgeThe Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du BoisThe Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-ExupéryMrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
Children's Fantasy of the 1940s
38 books — 25 voters
The Let Them Theory by Mel RobbinsThe Wedding People by Alison EspachHere One Moment by Liane MoriartyEverything Is Tuberculosis by John GreenAll the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
2025: What PEOPLE born BEFORE 1970 Have Read So Far
326 books — 23 voters

Sophie’s Choice by William StyronThe Last Secret of The Soul by Stephen P. SmithMy Bridges of Hope by Livia Bitton-JacksonThe Aftermath by Rhidian BrookThe Story Keeper by Fred Feldman
Post-Holocaust
34 books — 19 voters
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria RemarqueUnbroken by Laura HillenbrandThe Longest Day by Cornelius RyanLost Victories by Erich von MansteinJackboot Britain by Daniel S. William Fletcher
10 best novels of the two World Wars...
32 books — 11 voters

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankThe Time of the Assassins by Henry MillerWest with the Night by Beryl MarkhamI Rode With Stonewall by Henry Kyd DouglasThe Ethics of Ambiguity by Simone de Beauvoir
Non-Fiction Published in Decade: 1940s
92 books — 11 voters
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty SmithThe Grapes of Wrath by John SteinbeckForever Amber by Kathleen WinsorFather of the Bride by Edward StreeterHungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier
1940s Bestselling novels in the United States
138 books — 6 voters

Practically Seventeen by Rosamond du JardinDreams of Glory by Janet LambertFriday's Child by Janet LambertStar Spangled Summer by Janet LambertBeany Malone by Lenora Mattingly Weber
Teen Romance of the 1940s
16 books — 5 voters
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankGod Passes by by Shoghi EffendiThe Life of Johnny Reb by Bell Irvin WileyThe Devil in Massachusetts by Marion L. StarkeyMythology by Edith Hamilton
History Published in Decade: 1940s
24 books — 5 voters

Fog Magic by Julia L. SauerThe Moonlight Traveler by Philip van Doren SternBorrobil by William Croft DickinsonBedknob and Broomstick by Mary NortonDream Gold by David Severn
Children's Time Travel Fiction of the 1940s
10 books — 2 voters
Mother Goose by Joseph HirschRide a cock-horse and other nursery rhymes by Mervyn PeakeAnimal Mother Goose by Ruth E. NewtonRuth Newton's Mother Goose by Ruth E NewtonNursery Rhymes by Louise Altson
Nursery Rhyme Collections of the 1940s
10 books — 2 voters

Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard ThurmanBlack Gods of the Metropolis by Arthur Huff Fauset
Christian Religion Published by African-Americans in Decade: 1940s
2 books — 1 voter

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