The article contains a complex of Ukrainian works of art for and about children, in which the traumatic experience of childhood caused by the events of the Second World War is accumulated. The main attention is paid to narratives on an autobiographical basis (V. Blyznets, M. Vingranovskyi, Ye. Hutsalo, V. Rutkivskyi, Hr. Tiutiunnyk). Famine trauma and loss trauma (death, forced relocation) are singled out as the most presentable in them. Emphasis is placed on the originality of the narrative style of writers, which helps to accurately convey the traumatic disorders of children, stress caused by fear of death, famine. It was found that famine becomes a psychological dominant, traumatizing the physical and spiritual essence of the main characters. The trauma of famine expresses the problem of its experience by the characters, the author's attitude to it. Features of representation of trauma of loss / death of an animal are characterized. Emphasis is placed on its relevance for children, due to the peculiarities of perception of reality, attachment to the world of nature. The trauma of losing one's home is meaningful. Artistic methods of realization of psychological fractures of children are analyzed. The genre conditionality of selection of the most weighty and expressive facts of representation of traumatic experience is determined. Keywords: World War II, child trauma, trauma of loss, trauma of famine, Ukrainian literature for and about children, prose on an autobiographical basis, genre.