The War that Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
       In this book set in World War II-era London, Ada and her younger brother, Jamie, are abused by their hostile mother, whom they call "Mam." Mam allows Jamie to go to school but does not allow Ada to leave the apartment. Mam is ashamed of Ada due to Ada's clubfoot and does not want anyone else seeing her. She always verbally and physically puts Ada down by calling her names and not allowing her to walk. When the time came for the children to be evacuated from London due to the impending German threat, Mam allowed Jamie to go with the other children but forced Ada to stay. Ada finally got the courage to disobey Mam and ran away with her brother since she taught herself to walk enough to move. The children arrived in Kent, where two siblings were put into the care of the reluctant Susan Smith. Eventually, Susan came to love the children and the children loved Susan as well. The trio faced many trials like when the injured soldiers from Dunkirk overwhelmed the small village or when they had to go into the bomb shelter every night because of the German air raids. However, Ada comes out of her shell and heals emotionally through the support of the kind people in the village, Susan, and a pony named Butter. At the end of the book, Mam comes to take the children since she found out leaving them with Susan will cost her reoccurring payments nineteen shillings. At home, Ada stands up to her mother and her mother admits that she does not want them at all. That night, an air raid threatens Ada, Jamie, and Mam. The two siblings make it to a bomb shelter just in time. When they wake up, they are greeted by Susan who came to rescue them. When they get back to Kent, they see that Susan's house was destroyed by a German bomb and would have killed Susan had she been home. The people of Kent are delighted to see that Susan, Ada, and Jamie were not in the rubble and rejoice that they are alive. Susan says that the young boy and girl rescued her from dying and Ada says that Susan had done the same. This book has won the Newbery Honor Award.
       This book would be most appropriate for fifth and sixth grade. It has some more mature content that would not be appropriate for younger elementary students. For example, Ada tries to help a soldier and goes to get someone for him. When she comes back, this soldier had died and Ada is devastated. Additionally, the effects that Mam has on Ada are extremely intense. Ada believes that the clubfoot is her fault and believes Mam's lies for a while. I would love to have this book in my library for the students to read freely. Additionally, the students could write an essay or do a project after reading the book that is based on the title. They could explain if and how the war saved the life of Ada. They could also delve deeper and explain how the war may have saved Susan or Jamie as well. This book also contains many facts about World War II that even I did not know before. This book would be great for students to read as they study this war. After reading this book and studying the war, it would be a fun project idea for students to write creatively. The students could write from the perspective of a German or Polish boy or girl with a different scenario and use historical facts to explain how the war may have saved their life. This encourages students' creativity and gives them an opportunity to personalize history. Additionally, they have to know the facts of the war well in order to write the story.