The War That Saved My Life

The War That Saved My Life

Title: The War That Saved My Life

Genre: Newbery

Author: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Awards: 2016 Newbery Honor

Age Group: 9-12 years old

I actually really enjoyed this book, even though I have never usually been a fan of historical fiction or war stories. It was a great read that kept me on the edge of my seat as well as emotional at parts. Overall, it is a great story to read and I would recommend it in the future.

Summary:

The War That Saved My Life is set in England during World War 2; it follows 10-year-old Ada and 6-year old-Jamie, who ran away from their abusive mother and were taken in by Susan Smith. The only life Ada had known before this was one of shame and misery being confined to a small room all day and only getting to look out a window because her mother was too ashamed of her since she had been born with a clubfoot and could only see her as a crippled child. Ada was used to being hit by her mother and having to stay in a roach-infested cabinet all night. One day, she heard that because of the war and London being a possible place for bombing, parents were sending their children away. This is when Ada believes she could turn her life around, but Ada finds out that her mom was only allowing Jamie to go and not Ada, so the pair runs away. Then they meet Susan, who had no choice but to take them in. Susan lived alone and had never taken care of children before. At first Ada and Jamie have a hard time adjusting to their new environment and Susan. Ada finds she barely knows anything about the world, and she doesn’t know how to read or write and gets very frustrated easily by this. Susan has to help these children, and even though realizing that they are neglected and abused by their mother, she does everything she can for them. Ada finds some comfort in riding Susan’s horse, Butter. She gets very good at riding and uses this as a safe place. Meanwhile, Jamie finds some comfort in a cat named Bovril. Ada, Jamie and Susan go through many big changes because of their growing relationship as the war goes on (even though Ada keeps feeling like she doesn’t deserve the happiness and feels this will only be temporary). Though slowly, Ada starts to flourish; she learns to read and write and even can walk, thanks to crutches. She even finds out that the doctor can fix her foot, though not all the way (she also learns that her leg could have been fixed as a baby) but they would need her mom’s permission.  Ada comes to realize that she can have value despite her foot. Even though they hadn’t realized it yet, Susan, Ada, and Jamie had become a family. But then one day their mother came and demanded they come back home, though they had become different children by then and even looked different. Their mother tried to make everything go back to the awful normal from before, but Ada was stronger this time and stood up to her mother. It made her sad to find out her mother never really wanted her and Jamie, but they knew that Susan cared for them. In the end, Susan and the children are reunited again, but come to find that Susan’s house had been bombed while they were gone. Even with this they were just happy to be together and were surrounded by their neighbors who they loved. By the end, both Ada and Susan believed that, despite the war, they had saved each other’s lives and they both felt loved.

I believe I could use this book in the classroom because it can be an opener to many challenging topics including abuse, PTSD, World War 2 and more. This also is a great book for individual reading time if the student is interested in historical fiction stories.

I believe the appropriate grade level for this book would be 4th-7th grade. I believe this book has some pretty dark themes and topics in it, which is why I recommend it for older grades so that the student will fully understand the book. This book has very short chapters and was easy to read and follow. This book also featured big text which makes it easier to read. I like how this book formats the ends of its chapters; it usually ends on a hook line, even if sudden, that makes you want to read the next chapter.

This book could be used as a read aloud or maybe even a small book club when learning about World War 2 and its effect on people’s lives; because throughout the book it does give examples of some things that changed during war times such as food rationing, identity cards, victory gardens and more. Then the student will do a reflection, after reading the book, on what they learned about the war from this book.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy