Book Review: The War that Saved my Life

 

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bradley, K. B. (2016). The war that saved my life. Puffin Books.

ISBN: 0147510481

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

This novel is about a young girl named Ada who has a physical disability and his mother is so embarrassed by this that she does not let her leave her home. As the story continues, her younger brother leaves London to escape the war, and Ada sneaks out to join him. During this journey, Ada and her brother are taken in by Susan, who becomes like a “mother” to them. Sadly, Ada and Jaime go back to London when their mother goes and gets them, but Susan goes back to look for them and they are soon reunited.

3.CRITICAL ANALYSIS

I absolutely love this story! Bradley does a great job of developing Ada’s character throughout the story. Readers can relate to Ada and can see her emotional and intellectual growth as she overcomes different challenges in this story. I love Ada’s determination throughout the story, from sneaking away with her brother, to learning how to ride a horse, to looking for spies. Readers will also fall in love with Susan and her nurturing ways as she learns to care of the children.  I really enjoyed reading through each chapter, although I wasn’t particularly happy that each chapter left you hanging, which forced you to keep reading. This made it very difficult to put the book down. This novel touched on a lot of different topics like physical disabilities, child abuse, war, and family relationships. Because of this, I definitely think this book would be most appropriate for middle schoolers.

Note: There are a lot of different topics discussed in this story, some are difficult if you are not comfortable discussing issues like child abuse, physical disabilities, and times of war.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

A Newbery Honor Book

Starred review in Kirkus: “Ignorance and abuse are brought to light, as are the healing powers of care, respect and love.”

Starred review in School Library Journal: “engaging voice, the vivid setting, the humor, the heartbreak, but most of all the tenacious will to survive."

Starred review in Horn Book: " This is a feel-good story, but an earned one"

Starred review in Booklist: “readers will cheer for steadfast Ada as she triumphs over despair."

5. CONNECTIONS

* Engage students in a discussion about what family means to them. Discuss different types of family, and share different definitions for family.  

* Have student research WWII. What were the root cause of the war? How did the war impact the world? What changes happened as a result of the war?

*Other books similar to The War that Saved my Life

Lowry, L. (2011). Number the stars. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN: 0547577095

Hiranandani, V. (2019). The night diary. Penguin Putnam Inc. ISBN: 0735228523

This review was written for SHSU's MLA course. 

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