The War That Saved My Life

The War That Saved My Life | Historical Fiction | Kimberly B. Bradley | Newbery; Golden Kite Award | ages 9-11 |

During WWII, Ada is faced with some extreme challenges where she needs to gather courage and bravery to keep going. Things are already tough considering she lives with her younger brother Jamie and her mom who shows no lobe to her the way a mother should. this is because of Ada's clubfoot which her mom constantly makes her feel bad about. Ada is forced to stay alone in the house missing out on school and everything else. When Ada finds out about the children being sent away for their safety to other homes, Ada takes this opportunity to go with Jamie and escape the harshness of living with their mom where they are neglected. The home in which they are sent is great except that the care taker is a bit of grump as well. Soon though, Susan Smith begins to grow attached to the children and begins to love them the way a real mom does. She takes Ada to the doctor, she feeds them, bathes them, buys them new clothes, food, and doesn't punish them for their mistakes. Life is great here for Ada although young Jamie still doesn't understand how neglectful his mom was. Ada learns to ride horses and makes new friends. All of this is taken away when her mother comes back for them and are brought to the harsh reality again. Soon a bomb comes over the place in which they are staying but they manage to escape before they get hurt. To their surprise Susan came to look for them and takes them home with her again. When they arrive back to Susan's home, they find that her house is also destroyed. And though it's heartbreaking to see, Ada's heart is happy to be in a real home. 

Quite a beautiful loving story that is hard to put down. You want to know more as you keep reading and become easily attached to the characters of the story, hoping they get the happy ending. It is like reading through someone's diary during WWII, where we get to know the life in this time and not just read factual information, which is interesting for students to learn about a certain time without feeling like a lecture. I would definitely use this book in a fourth to seventh grade classroom. You can have the students write a similar story or journal entry on the point of view of a character from that time period based off what they know. You can learn more than the war itself such as the definition of clubfoot and how common it was to see this in that time. We can discuss the help that children received then and how that might like today. Also, you can have the student's write a letter to a character they related to the most from the book.