Books like The Machine Gunners
The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall reads as realistic, adventurous. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.
What The Machine Gunners is like to read
A wartime adventure in which children play at soldiering with real stakes — the thrill of a secret hideout shadowed by the adult war outside. Best for: readers who want a WWII home-front adventure told from a child's-eye view.
Good Night, Mr. Tom
Michelle Magorian · 1981
Both explore war & friendship
Carrie's War
Nina Bawden · 1973
Both explore war & childhood
Shadow
Michael Morpurgo · 2010
A gentle, emotionally earnest war story told through a lost dog's journey, balancing danger and separation with warmth and hope for reunion.
The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips
Michael Morpugo · 2005
A gentle, elegiac children's wartime story told through a grandmother's diary, centered on a child's love for her cat amid the upheaval of Allied invasion preparations.
The Silver Sword
Ian Serraillier · 1956
Three orphaned siblings navigate Nazi-occupied Warsaw and a long trek across ruined Europe through courage and makeshift family bonds — a propulsive, emotionally intense survival narrative grounded in true accounts.
B for Buster
Iain Lawrence · 2004
Both explore war & friendship
Johnnie's Blitz
Bernard Ashley · 1999
Both explore war & childhood
Fallen angels
Walter Dean Myers · 1984
A Harlem teenager's tour in Vietnam rendered as episodic, ground-level dread — plainspoken first-person voice, brutal set pieces, and a coming-of-age that costs everything.
Blood on the River
Elisa Carbone · 2006
Both explore friendship
I Survived the Battle of D-Day, 1944
Lauren Tarshis · 2019
An eleven-year-old caught in Nazi France is swept into the terrifying chaos of D-Day, experiencing survival and courage amid one of history's pivotal moments.
Fathom five
Robert Westall · 1979
A tense wartime mystery where a group of English teens dig into a spy scare, testing their loyalties and friendships against the anxieties of the Blitz era.
Five Go to Smuggler's Top
Enid Blyton · 1945
A brisk children's mystery-adventure set in an eerie marsh-top house riddled with secret tunnels, where a plucky group of kids sniff out smugglers.
About The Machine Gunners — what the genome says
Who is The Machine Gunners for?
It's young adult — teen protagonists with crossover appeal.
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