The War That Saved My Life
Ratings31
Average rating4.4
Nine-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him.
So begins a new adventure of Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother?
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2 primary booksThe War That Saved My Life
The War That Saved My Life is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2015 with contributions by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.
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Read this book for class in elementary school, great book I think it has a great storyline.
I enjoyed this overall, but I was expecting something on another level based on the rave reviews. Ada at times seemed more of an object lesson in trauma response than a real person, and Mam was simply a cartoon character. Wish that she in particular had received a more nuanced treatment, as she surely had pressures and traumas of her own that made her the way she was. I also wonder if characters at this time and place would really say “okay” as much as they do.
What I really liked about this book is that it didn't explain too much. What 10-year old actually understands their own reactions and emotions? For that matter, what 40-year old does? And yet, book after book we get people perfectly and eloquently explaining their every motivation. This book didn't do that. It let its narrator feel things and react to things without knowing why. We got to experience Ada as Ada might have. Because of this, her sadness & anger & frustration felt so much more affecting and real.
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