The War That Saved My Life
By: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Newberry Honor
Historical Fiction

            This story follows the life of a ten-year-old girl named, Ada, and her six-year-old brother, Jamie. Ada has a clubfoot that was never fixed when she was a child. Her mother calls her simple, and worthless. Ada is kept in one apartment her entire life, because her mother is ashamed of her. Ada is unable to walk, read, write, and hasn’t even seen a tree in her life. While Jamie goes to school, she is left alone to look out the window. She gets lonely while Jamie is at school, so she decides she will teach herself to walk in case Jamie ever needs her help.
            It is 1939 and Hitler is on the move, so all the children in Ada’s city are asked to evacuate because he is threatening to bomb their city. Ada’s mother tells Ada that she isn’t allowed to evacuate with her brother because no one would want to take her. Luckily, Ada is able to sneak out with her brother Jamie before her mother wakes up. They get on a train and are sent to live with Susan Smith. Susan has never had children, nor has she ever wanted any; she is scared she will not be able to take care of them properly. Ada and Jamie overheard Susan talking about how she didn’t want them, but Ada saw the beautiful horse in backyard and felt that this is where Jamie and her were supposed to stay.
            Despite Susan’s hard feelings toward the idea of keeping the children, she does a wonderful job of taking care of them. She bathes them, gives them clothes, gives Ada crutches so that she can walk without hurting herself, and gives them proper meals every day. She even takes Ada to the doctor to see if her foot could be worked on. Susan sends Ada and Jamie’s mother letter after letter trying to get permission to have surgery, but she never gets a response back.
            Ada and Jamie live with Susan Smith for about a year. Ms. Smith learns that she actually likes someone to make clothes for, and someone to make her tea in the mornings. Ada also learns more of how to live as a regular person. She teaches herself to ride a horse, she helps Susan through her depression, and she starts to heal from the years of torture from her mother. Susan and Ada go through much turmoil to get to a place of trust for one another. Ada does not feel that she deserves all of the love Susan is giving to her, and often fights Susan because of it.
            The tides turn when Ada’s mother comes back for them, she takes them from Susan back to their hometown. She yells at them and tells them how awful they are and how unworthy they are. To Ada, it’s a nightmare come true. Ada’s mother has taken them home and gone to work just as the bombs start and the children are left alone in the dust. Who will save them, how could they possibly survive?  


I would absolutely use this novel in my classroom. It tells a wonderful story that brings out so many different emotions. Once I picked this book up it felt like I couldn’t ever put it down. I read it all in just two sittings! This would be a great book for students in 4th-5th grade. It not only talks about emotion and hardship, but it is also historical fiction. Students will be introduced to the name Hitler, and in the classroom I could teach about who exactly that is and show them timelines of when this book occurred.

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