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| THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley |
Author: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Title: The War that Saved My Life
Publisher: Dial
Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 2015
ISBN: 9780803740815
Plot Summary
A young disabled girl and her brother are evacuated
from London to the English countryside during World War II, where they find
life to be much sweeter away from their abusive mother.
Critical Analysis
At first blush, this is a junior historical fiction.
However, even before the reader finishes page 1 you know this book is about a
disabled girl. Ada, we learn later, has a club foot – something that is so
easily fixed that the reader is left scratching their head as to why it wasn’t
fixed. The medical mystery is solved as more and more layers of Ada and her
mother, Mam, are exposed. Mam abuses Ada, keeping her locked up in a one-room
apartment. Mam seems to be ashamed of Ada and keeps up a façade that Ada is too
simple minded to be allowed out of the apartment. Conversely, Ada’s younger
brother Jamie is not disabled and can come and go as he pleases with little
care for his education. When Jamie is told he will leave for the English
countryside to avoid bombings by the Germans during World War II, Ada finds
courage and a way to leave Mam too. “‘You find out where we have to go and what
time we have to be there,’ I said [to Jamie]. ‘We’re leaving together, we are’”
(p. 15).
As Ada learns more about her club foot, so does the
reader. Author Bradley has taken great pains to accurately help the reader understand
the problems Ada faces while learning to walk, travel and simply exist with a
club foot. Bradley also provides insights to the feelings and thoughts Ada has
when dealing with others who think her disability makes her simpleminded. My
favorite line in the book: I drew myself up, taller, and glared at the man, and
I said, ‘My bad foot’s a long way from my brain’” (p. 277).
Bradley excels at the literary quality criteria of
writing a book with a character with disabilities. The book is full of factual events
in England during WWII and how the living conditions affected Ada. The
locations and living conditions are written so well that you feel like you
spent a night under the sink with Ada: “The cabinet was a cubby under the sink.
The pipe dripped sometimes, so the cabinet was always damp and smelly. Worse,
roaches lived there. I didn’t mind roaches out in the open so much. I could
smash them with a piece of paper and throw their bodies out of the window. In
the cabinet, in the dark, I couldn’t smash them. They swarmed all over me. Once
one crawled into my ear” (p. 12-13). Bradley also uses a main character with a
disability instead of as a vehicle for growth for another character that is not
disabled. Ada’s confidence and knowledge grows larger with each passing day
while in the English countryside. Ada’s life makes a remarkable turn when she
gives herself permission to learn to read. “‘As soon as the sun’s up, we’re
going.’ I could read street signs now. I could find my way. I didn’t have any
money for a train fare, but I was willing to bet there would be a WVS post
somewhere. The WVS woman would help us out’” (p. 307).
I do wish the book included a WWII-era map of England
with London and Kent highlighted. Obviously, readers could look up the area in
an atlas; but I feel it would help young readers to visualize the distance
between the two areas and why English children would be safer in the country
than in the city during WWII. Also, readers could see just how close Kent was
to occupied France: “Kent, which was the part of England where we were, was the
closest bit to the German Army in France. When Hitler invaded, he would land in
Kent” (p. 259).
When I began my MLS studies, I heard great things
about The War that Saved My Life, but
for various reasons, I never read it. I’m so glad I picked this book in late
fall 2017 as the sequel was released in October 2017: The War I Finally Won. I am currently on hold for the book from my
local library. I’m hoping Ada is finally able to have surgery on her foot; I
hope the children live a long, productive life in the English countryside; I
hope their mean old Mam dies a horrible death!
Reviews
- CCBC (2016): “Ten-year-old Ada was born with a club foot that was never fixed and her abusive, financially struggling mother has kept her isolated all her life. The evacuation of London children during World War II gives Ada and her little brother, Jamie, a chance to escape their grim life. The two end up in a small village at the home of a woman named Susan Smith. There is not necessarily anything extraordinary or unpredictable in this satisfying story in which the three become a close and loving family except for the telling itself, which reveals refreshing complexities of characters and situations.”
- Booklist (2014): “The home-front realities of WWII, as well as Ada s realistic anger and fear, come to life in Bradley s affecting and austerely told story, and readers will cheer for steadfast Ada as she triumphs over despair.”
- Children’s Literature (2015): “The children are placed with Susan Smith, a middle class woman in mourning for the loss of her (female) partner. Susan is resourceful and determined to do the right thing in caring for the two young evacuees, but the children--especially Ada--are emotionally and physically damaged. This family by convenience knits together slowly, but in the end, there is real love. However, when the children’s mother reappears to rip them from the only loving home they have known; it is clear that love must triumph because this is a real family, filled with emotional support and an actual parent figure. Bradley is a facile storyteller, and the story of a war told from the perspective of the home front is not told often enough at a juvenile level.”
Awards
- 2015 Cybils Awards nominee, Middle Grade Fiction
- 2016 John Newbery Medal honor
- 2016 Schneider Family Book Award winner, Middle
- 2016 Josette Frank Award winner
Connections
- Teachers can use this set of lesson plans by Penguin Group: http://www.penguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/WarThatSavedMyLife_Guide_15_4p_LR.pdf
- Readers can learn more about author Kimberly Brubaker Bradley at her blog: https://kimberlybrubakerbradleycom.wordpress.com/abouttheauthor/
- Readers can continue Ada’s story by reading The War I Finally Won (ISBN: 978-0525429203)
Bibliography
Bradley,
Kimberly Brubaker. The War that Saved My
Life. New York, NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2015. ISBN 9780803740815
Cover,
Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Personal photograph by Amy Wilson. November 19, 2017.
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