The War That Saved My Life

The War That Saved My Life

Author: Kimberley Brubaker Bradley

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Award: Newbery honor

Grade Level: 3^rd to 5^th grade

The story takes place in gray old London during the start of WWII. We are introduced to Ada, a scrawny girl who lives with her younger brother Jamie and mother who is referred as ‘mam.’ From the first chapter, you know that Ada is crippled as her mother repeatedly keep abusing her calling her “a monster, with an ugly foot.” One morning, all the children are evacuated somewhere outside London so they would be safe from the Hitler’s armies and bombs. In the chaos surrounding the anticipation of war. Ada and Jamie are taken away by a teacher who puts them on a train to Kent, a countryside in England. Once they reach there, all the villagers pick the children one by one. The only one left is Ada and Jamie. The “Iron lady” takes the children to Ms. Smith, a lady who lives in a cottage with a pony and just herself away from town. She refuses to foster them at first because she has her own reason. She weeps time to time for the loss of her best friend Becky. She thinks she is not stable enough to take care of herself let alone two children. But Ada and Jamie give her incentive to wake up and work hard. She takes them to doctor, she cooks them tasty food, she teaches them discipline and best of all. She teaches them to read by reading aloud. While Susan is working on her emotion, Ada spends most of her time with Butter, the pony that is just as stubborn as she is. She takes care of him by taking him to Fred to cut his long nails. She rides him up and down the hill where she discovers a spy. Ada also becomes friends with Margaret by helping her take her back home when her horse bucks her up. The middle chapters deals with the relationship between Susan and Ada; trying to understand each other and also at the same time trying to understand one self. The story reaches the climax when Ada “mam” returns to Kent to take the children back to London. Susan cannot stop mam from taking the children away. The children cannot stop themselves from the grasp of mams wrath. They go back to London where mam once again start to insult and berate Ada like she is not even a human. She takes away her crutch and calls her a cripple that will never walk. When they finally reach home in London, mam takes off to work in a factory. Children are left alone at home then all of a sudden, the bomb starts dropping. In a chaos, Ada takes Jamie down the stairwell. There is dust, smoke and rubble everywhere. A man pulls them down to safety and waits for the bombs to stop. The next morning, Ada and Jamie come out of basement and looks around. All they see is rubble and people with gray sheath of ashes. They hear a voice that sounds like Susan. Ada thinks she is imagining but it turns out to be Susan. She promises them that she will never lose her again and takes them back to Kent. Upon returning back to Kent, Susan house is bombed out. All the villagers are around her house trying to find the body. When the “Iron lady” sees them, she is relieved to see everyone safe. It is as if destiny wanted the children had to go to London, so Susan could come down to save them and to save herself from the bomb! An outstanding book that needs to be read by everyone. 

Thoughts:

Love! Love! LOVE this book. It speaks to everyone. Young readers will relate to Ada in an emotional way while the adult readers will just want to hug Ada and Jamie so tightly till they melt away. What strikes me the most is her thoughts. She gets angry at herself for not being able to express herself. She gets frustrated with herself because she cannot understand the feelings that are bubbling within her.  I know I certainly was like Ada when it came to express myself. I used to just shrug and bottle up things inside me thinking that was the best thing I could do. This book really is an emotional roller coaster so best to read this book with a box of tissue by your side!