Are there any books set in or about Germany that aren't about WWII?

[Marti]

There's a fifth grade student in my school who has become very interested in reading about Germany since her family is from there. I haven't been able to find any books that aren't set during WWII. There's so much more to Germany than a single decade or two.
Any suggestions? A main character who is German but has nothing to do with the Holocaust would be good too.
As a grandchild of a genocide survivor, I certainly believe that the Holocaust needs to be remembered, but not to the exlusion of anything else about Germany.

[Jemima]

I read a book that involved time travel back to the Teutonic Knights. Is that too historical for her? I marked it as YA rather than MG, but I may be wrong. Escape from the Past: The Duke's Wrath I see there are more in the series but I don't know whether they continue the location link.

Otherwise try looking in Listopia here on Goodreads for a Germany + childrens book. I had a browse and there isn't much except in the Germany list - which you'll have to sift for something suitable... but I realise I have 'The Little Ghost' in German and I've never read it; also An Elephant in the Garden might hit the bill - set during the war but about saving Dresden zoo, basically. It's by Michael Morpurgo, and strangely, I nearly picked it up at the library today!

[Paula]

The only German authors I could think of are Cornelia Funke, Michael Ende and Christine Nöstlinger. They have written a lot of really good books that aren't about the Holocaust, but many are fantasy, so not so much about Germany either.

There must be tons of books about regular kids, but maybe they don't get translated into English?

Relevant listopias: Best German Children Literature and YA Books by German Writers

[Manybooks]

As a person of German background, this has always bothered me immensely, especially with regard to English language books that feature German or German American/Canadian characters.

Here is a list of books that feature German characters that have nothing to do with WWII (but in an American/Canadian setting).

Anna All Year Round (based on author's family, German American mother, Anglo American father)
Sophie's War: The Journal Of Anna Sophie Franziska Guenther (this does feature war, but it is about the 19th century and Sophie's troubles in Texas, as her family support the Union, and most Texans supported the rebels)
Lotta's Progress (pretty good story, and also features the Alcotts, but has a huge amount of German language grammar and spelling mistakes, my two star rating is mostly about that, as the story itself if pretty good)
What the Moon Said (excellent story and based on the author's own life, supposedly, father German and mother likely a Russian Mennonite, highly recommended)
Adeline's Dream (about a German Canadian immigrant, another wonderful story with too many German language spelling mistakes, but definitely a worthwhile read)
Thimble Summer (many of the families in Enright's episodic tale are of German background, but even though this was written in the 30s, there is never any issues with the characters' background being German)

A Night Divided (about the Berlin Wall, have not read this but it looks good)

Any English language translation books of Erich Kästner would work, as they are NOT about the Holocaust, but show the 20s and 30s before the Nazis took over (the Weimar Republic, especially Berlin), Dot and Anton, Emil and the Detectives and with Lottie and Lisa, the effects of divorce (featuring both Munich, Germany and later Vienna, Austria).

[Rebecca]

It's not exactly what you are looking for, but if you go back to before the Wars, Germany shows up very positively in many US books. I'm thinking about Louisa May Alcott, for example, who was clearly enamored, and had Jo March marry a German. In other books, characters visit Germany.

But you are right. Almost all the books I can think of that are set in Germany are about the war. Of course, since most of the children's books I can think of are US or British, they tend not to feature other countries much at all.

[Manybooks]

To the Boy in Berlin, this might be promising, although there seems to be a mystery that goes back to 1914 (WWI)

A House of Tailors, although the writing style is a bit distracting, an interesting story based on the author's own family (there is though a rather weird conjecture in the author's note that the sister of the main character who had remained in Germany might have been killed by the Nazis, but the main story has nothing to do with WWII)

[Manybooks]

How I Became an American (this is the translation, and a pretty good one at that of Karin Gündisch' Das Paradies liegt in Amerika). It is a a an early 20th century immigration story to the USA of one Romanian German family (written in simple journal like entries by one of the fictious younger sons, with both pathos and realism, a bit distancing, but sounding very authentic and actually based on actual historical documents). The only caveat that I personally provide is that some of the themes and scenarios featured (although not inappropriate) are heavy and sad (on the ship journey, there is a death at sea of a pregnant teenager and the family's youngest daughter, a toddler, also dies of peritonitis soon after the family arrives in the USA). The story told is realism and not in any way sugar coated (with America being both the land of opportunity but not as paradisical as sometimes described by the for all intents and purposes marketers who were praising the USA as heavenly and the land of milk and honey in both Western and later in Central Europe).