Hello everybody! Today I am back with a very exciting post, one that I am ecstatic to share with all of you! It is… an interview with one of my all time favorite authors: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.
Continue reading “An interview with Kimberly Brubaker Bradley”
Hello! I hope that you are all having an amazing Tuesday so far! Anyways, right now I am back with another Top Ten Tuesday. Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl where there is a topic and you make a list that best fits that topic! This week’s topic is authors with a fun social media presence!
Continue reading “Top Ten Tuesday: authors with a fun social media presence”Hello everybody! I was planning to write this review on Thanksgiving, but that didn’t happen, so here it is now.
Goodreads Summary:
(by the way, I got a Goodreads account, which has actually turned out to be pretty cool, but that’s for another post…)
Ten-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him.
So begins a new adventure of Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother?
This is my second favorite book I’ve read, behind only the sequel, The War I Finally Won.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
(I’d do 50 out of 5 stars if I could!!!)
The characters in this story are very detailed, and are not only described in depth during the book, they also have backstories. Their histories are also told to the reader, and that makes the book even more complete. Here are a few sentences on a couple of the main characters:
Ada is so strong, and so brave. She takes care of herself and her little brother Jamie, so when Susan Smith takes her and her brother in, she doesn’t think she needs to be taken care of.
Susan still mourns the death of her closest friend Becky, and she doesn’t think that she can take in two children, but she learns a lot from the experience.
Lady Thorton lost her two brothers in the first world war, and is terrified at the idea of her son Jonathon becoming a pilot, and she is determined to do her part at home to make the war end quicker. She is very active in the war efforts, and it’s her who places Ada and Jamie with Susan.
The overall plot is about Ada’s everyday life living with Susan, but there are many ‘subplots‘ if that’s even a thing. Stuff like Ada learning to ride Butter, Susan’s horse, or Jamie’s frequent visits to the airfield, are twisted into the plot in ways that fit together and make sense.
One of the most remarkable things about The War that Saved my Life is that Kimberly Brubaker Bradley makes a book about someone’s everyday life interesting. I know that Ada’s life is not normal; there are many aspects in which Ada has so many crazy things going on. However, Ada is shown as a regular girl, with some extraordinary stuff happening in her life, and its interesting to read! Usually, most people would find a book about a regular kid’s life boring, but Kimberly Brubaker Bradley takes the crazy stuff happening to Ada away, and shows that deep down, she’s just a regular ten-year-old girl.
I don’t know if that last paragraph made any sense, but basically what I was saying was that Ada has crazy stuff going on, but Kimberly Brubaker Bradley puts that away and instead writes about the story the kid who wants to learn to ride a horse, and writes about a kid falls asleep in the field and gets a sunburn. Ada’s clubfoot is a big part of the story, but it’s not her defining feature.
This was my summer reading book when I was nine. At my public library, each summer you get a free book, and I chose The War that Saved my Life!
Overall, this book is amazing. The War that Saved my Life seems sad, but really, once Ada and Jamie are introduced to Susan, only a few chapters in, if you stick with the book, it is so amazing and happy!
I highly recommend it if you’re a fan of historical fiction, and realistic fiction. Actually I recommend this book no matter what! It’s technically a YA book, but younger kids and adults will equally get a lot out of it.
Happy Reading!
Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books discussing a bookish topic each Friday. I know that this post is almost a week late, but this week’s topic is super interesting, and I suggested it, so I have a lot of opinions on this, so without further ado; Should readers read books that aren’t for their target age?
My short answer: YES! Don’t just stick to books that are for your age group. Personally, I read lots of books that some people would say are definitely not targeted for my age group. I’m 13, but I still enjoy reading books that were my favorites when I was a lot younger. Pippi Longstocking, for example will never get old. That series, by Astrid Lindgren, is hilarious, and I’ve reread it so many times!
I’ve also read books that are most likely aimed at much higher age groups. This happens way less now, but there were times when I was younger when I read books that were definitely not for my target age. There is some stuff that I learned, mostly historical content, because I love historical fiction, that was shocking that I didn’t necessarily know, well, existed.
One of the most drastic examples of this is my first experience reading The War that Saved my Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. I got this book from the library when I was 8 or 9, and while it is now one of my favorite books, it took a while to process it. The story is about a girl named Ada, who was born with a clubfoot, and is treated very harshly by her mother who is ashamed of her because of her disability. The book is set during the second world war, a short time before the battle of Britain, where London was bombed 57 nights in a row. Ada is kept locked up in their London flat, and is very harshly abused and mistreated. She escapes that when her brother is sent to the countryside because of bombings, and she runs away with him. They end up living with a woman named Susan Smith who cares for Ada and Jamie, and is very kind to them.
When I first read this book, it was the first time that I’d really been exposed to what the harshness of child abuse can look like, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. Reading has taught me about countless things, and I know that I would not have been exposed to or learned about many things I now know if I hadn’t read books for all different ages.
That said, there are good things about reading for your age level. It can be a good way to find books you’ll enjoy, but you should never feel pressured to read books for your age group.
What do you think? Do you think that readers should read books for their target age, or that they should read whatever they want? Have you had experiences with books like I did with The War that Saved my Life?
Chat with me in the comments below!
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