The War that Saved my Life: By Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

 This book was very surprising.  The story begins with a girl named Ada and her brother Jamie.  They live with their mom right before World War II.  Their mother treats Ada horriblily all because she has a club foot and can not walk very well.  Because of the approaching war, Jamie is to be sent to live out in the county with the other school children where he will be safer.  Mam does not permit Ada to go but she sneaks away and goes anyway.  Ada and Jamie end up staying with a woman named Suzan Smith, who is very kind to them despite not wanting children when they first arrive.  Under the care of Suzan, Ada gets much better.  She gets crutches so she can walk and she learns to ride a horse.  Jamie goes to school and continues to learn and Suzan teaches Ada at home how to read and write.  All the time they are preparing for the war, digging a shelter, beginning to ration food, and help at the WVS group.  Ada and Jamie grow to love living with Suzan but then their Mam comes to get them and take them back to London with her.  She does not approve of how proper her children have become and how nice they now look.  Once back in London she returns to treating Ada terribly and locking her up to avoid the "shame of having a crippled".  After Ada and Jamie have been back a few days, the Germans bomb London.  They barely make it to the shelter and when they come out they do not know what happened to Mam.  When they are looking around after they find Suzan who has come to take them back.  When Suzan and the children arrive back at Suzan's home, they find that it has been bombed.  The only reason Suzan is ok is that she came to get the children.  The whole time when reading the book, I assumed the only life that was saved in this was Ada as she was finally allowed to experience life but in the end, I realized Suzan's life had also been saved by the children.  

This is an amazing book but I do not think I would use it in my classroom.  This book is definitely more appropriate for upper elementary students or maybe even junior high and I plan on teaching lower elementary.  If I ever taught a higher grade I would definitely use it.  This book is so interesting and there were a lot of hidden lessons in it.  This book could also be paired with a history unit on World War II and talking about the experience of children during this time.