It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Hi everyone,  welcome back to a short week. I found time to finish a book I started several weeks ago and that fits into my semester challenge.

The War That Saved My Life (unabridged) by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Theme:

This book is appropriate for middle grades and up.  This is a chapter book about the history of WWII in Britain, the setting begins in a one room apartment that sits over a pub in London.  The room is dirty and sparsely furnished and overlooks a few city blocks.  Inside the apartment two young children who survive on little to eat with their undereducated abusive mother. The air in the apartment smells of hate and war. Ada and her brother later in the story are taken in by Miss. Susan Smith who is forced to care for the children.  The two Susan and Ada share more in common than they realize in their solitude existence.

Persistence is another part to the theme of this book.  Ada’s perseverance is innate and less obvious to her while Miss. Smith’s is set forth because of her own internal motivation and education.  Mam (Ada’s mother) also has her own anger driven perseverance that continues to haunt the children namely Ada, through the entire book.

Setting:

The setting of the story starts in London and moves to the country side outside of London near the sea away from poverty. The setting is very important in this book because Ada is able to receive an education outside a formal school that she was blocked from attending.  In the city her horrid mother only allowed her to view out of the small apartment window.  She had no radio, friends, or anyway of learning anything more than what her younger brother shared with her about his daily mischievous outings.

The events that happen in the daily routine of children that are most connected with the setting are what they learn when they escape (though Jamie was sent away and Ada escaped by following) their mother’s clutches.  The children learned what the sea actually is.  They learned manners and they learned what is like to eat regularly and to be bathed on a daily basis. These are basics that they did not receive from Mam.

Plot:

Ada who is so traumatized by her mother’s abuse is unable to fit into her mind the penetrating effects of WWII that is happening all around her.  Germany and Britain are at war and so is Ada at war with her mother.  Mam has beaten in to Ada that Ada is nothing more than a shame because of her club foot.  Her foot could have been treated if her mother would have allowed it but Mam refused instead because of the cost and inconvenience. Ada at the age of 9 feels like she is a disposable object and that she has no value.  Mam is close to successfully brainwashing Jamie into the same attitude toward Ada that she holds which is despite and contempt.  Ada persists through the book you can see this when she runs away to follow Jamie to the safety his mother is sending him to.  Ada persists when she develops a trust in a Pony named Butter.  Ada again persists to be an asset to Miss. Smith at home and in the war efforts of the WVS.

Though Jamie does love and rely on his big sister Jamie is close to devaluing Ada who cares for him daily in ways like giving up her bread and tea so that his stomach is not empty.

Miss. Smith who is lost in her own depression caused by her partner Becky’s death, a few years prior is renewed by caring for the children when she reluctantly takes in.  Miss. Smith says, “She is not a nice person” over and over and yet gives the children all they need emotionally and physically.

In this story the author gave perspective from both Ada and Miss. Smith having the thoughts from a child and an adult kept my attention.  I liked reading about how Ada didn’t know the words to express her emotions or feelings for much of everything she experienced and learned.  It was very interesting to read about her anxiety and constant state of being overwhelmed.  Reading about single Susan’s ability to accept, care for and teach the lifeless Ada was compelling.  I enjoyed how the author gave Susan’s character compassion and patience.

Tone, Pacing, Point of View, Tension:

If I had to draw a picture of this story to describe it the picture would be two children falling up!  They would be grey, small and with ragged clothes on they would be twirling in the air upward not down like Alice in the story Alice in Wonderland who falls down a hole the picture would be the opposite.  As the viewer looked at the picture the back and white bottom would fade into a rainbow of color near the top.

The language of the book is simple mixed with innuendoes that an older reader would easily pick up.  An example is when the author writes about Becky and Susan moving into the house together and that being the happiest time in Susan’s life.  Another example is found when the author writes how Mam had company late at night in the one room apartment when the children still lived with her.  There was one onomatopoeia that was the word was WHOOP, it was used when the bomb sirens sounded.

The tension in this is so intense it causes me to rate this book a 4 on a scale of 1-4.  The war is getting closer to the village and as that happens the war within Ada to feel and learn strengthens.  The village fills with soldiers who are in dire need of water and medical attention at that same time Ada makes another bold decision to use her new skills and show person strength while helping the soldiers.  This choice is a crossroad for her just as it is Britain.

The story is told in 3^rd person and the pacing of this long read is like rolling hills.  Ada swells with fear as she experiences life outside of her holding cell (her room) and the pace of the story slows as we read about her learning.

I hope this review isn’t to long, this is such a good story in many ways and there is so much to say about it.

This week I have also read the following books;

The central idea of this children’s book is to help children become self-aware and to build self-confidence in themselves. A mirror is strategically placed at the end of the book so that a young reader can view themselves while in a positive mood. The pictures in this book are bright and images of the text. The words are presented to the reader in a question form

The children’s picture book caught my attention because of the mirror placed on the last page of the book so that a young reader can view their own image as a princess. This book is for earlier elementary students who likely are very inquisitive as the main character in this book is.

This silly laugh out loud children’s book features bunnies as the crew and help on the Salty Carrot Ship. As the bunnies cruise across 7 seas they encounter disaster! The unavoidable storm shreds the ship and the crew of looters are thrown around and all is lost except their lives!
The bunnies regroup and learn a lesson and that is that they do not need to rob others they can learn all they need to know by reading and rely on themselves for all they need.