The War That Saved My Life (The War That Saved My Life, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Jan 24, 2019 Lisa Vegan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens, fiction, owned-1300, orphaned-and-quasi-orphaned-kids, owned-or-own-different-edition, cats, six-star-books, readbooks-female-author-or-illust, favorites, historical-fiction

While still reading, I reserved the sequel and intend to read it soon. I was emotionally invested in this story and its many characters.

This is a brilliantly done middle grade novel. It’s a page turner! It is an extremely well deserved Newbery Honor book. I’d have been happy had it won the Newbery Award.

Ada is a great character! She’s smart and resourceful and brave and caring and loyal and observant, and inspiring. She’s also been horribly traumatized and is dealing with the ramifications of While still reading, I reserved the sequel and intend to read it soon. I was emotionally invested in this story and its many characters.

This is a brilliantly done middle grade novel. It’s a page turner! It is an extremely well deserved Newbery Honor book. I’d have been happy had it won the Newbery Award.

Ada is a great character! She’s smart and resourceful and brave and caring and loyal and observant, and inspiring. She’s also been horribly traumatized and is dealing with the ramifications of her experiences and her situation. It’s a pleasure to watch her progress.

I love Susan Smith! I might even like her better than I like Ada. She’s a natural therapist, a wonderful (foster) mother, and she is also dealing with past losses. I appreciated how her grief over her housemate and best friend Becky’s death is described but while it was obvious to me as an adult reader and might be to today’s children (but not to children when I was a child) that those two had a sexual relationship, that Susan is a lesbian, but because nothing sexual about the relationship is delved into, it’s not the focus at all, and is conveyed in a way that will go over many readers’ heads, and that’s fine. Because even though this story is about Susan and about Ada’s brother Jamie, and about quite a few other interesting characters, primarily this is Ada’s story.

I also loved the cat character and the pony character. I was worried for a while that I wouldn’t like the way the pony was treated, but it ended up okay for me. (Even though I’m an outlier and like it when dogs and cats and horses are treated as friends and not used in any way. Of course here, riding the pony was not for financial gain at all. As far as other owners & horses included in the story, they’re not a main part of the plot, and I was also very aware of the sensibilities of this time and place.)

Ada’s and Jamie’s mother was horrible, yet believable. I thoroughly enjoyed how things ended regarding her and her children.

This was also an excellent historical fiction story. It touched on WWII including the Blitz and the bombings in Kent, the area of England closest to the fight on the continent. My heart sank when the airfield was constructed where it was.

This is a fine book for ages 9 and all the way up. It does get intense at times around issues of war and child abuse, issues of abandonment and neglect, but I think it manages to stay a solid middle grade novel that can also be enjoyed by adults and teens. The two main children go from age 10 to 11 and from age 6 to 7.

Highly recommended for fans of books that include: historical fiction, coming of age novels, foster care, child abuse, physical disability, childhood trauma, cats, horses, country living/small town living, issues of poverty, WWII English history, books that show characters overcoming obstacles, and stories about characters caring for one another in various ways.

This will be enjoyed by independent readers but it would also make a great read aloud book parent or older child to one or more children and also for teachers/classrooms and other group settings. ...more

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Jul 20, 2018 thefourthvine rated it really liked it

Shelves: childrens-teen, historical, queer-interest, disability

If I’d known more about this book going in, I’d never have read it. But I found it on a list of books about the evacuation of children to the countryside in the UK in WWII, and the list didn’t really say much about it. So here’s what I didn’t know: this is a book about trauma, child abuse, and disability, and while all those topics are treated deftly — honestly, but with no gratuitous misery porn or inspiration porn — it’s intense, heavy content, especially for a book that seemed roughly middle ...more

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Jan 23, 2016 Debbie Barr rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobooks

I listened to the audiobook since it just won the Odyssey Award, and it was absolutely wonderful! I highly recommend the audio version if you can get it, the narrator did a fantastic job.

The story itself was great, too. I loved Ada's journey, and the book handled some tough subjects and situations very well. This will be a staple in schools for years to come, I think. ...more

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Dec 23, 2016 Liz rated it really liked it

Shelves: middle-grade-fiction, historical-fiction, 5-star

I knew The War That Saved My Life would be an intense book going in, because it’s about war and disability. I also had high expectations because of all the accolades it had received. The War That Saved My Life is objectively a fantastic book, and for the fact that it was so packed with emotions made it even better.

It’s heartbreaking to read about how Ada has been treated by her mother. I loved seeing how Ada bonded with Susan, and how Susan changed throughout the book. Their relationship is so b ...more

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Feb 02, 2018 junia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Historical young fiction that deals with trauma

This book is so special because it takes such hard topics while set realistically during World War II. I could imagine reading this while teaching kids about WWII, Churchill, and Dunkirk.

The first person narrative is also compelling. She's not the most reliable narrator but young readers can recognize that. There's also a lot of difficult topics to discuss regarding a loveless mother and essentially, a foster situation.

Ultimately, horses help with ...more

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