"The War that Saved my Life" by Kimberly Brudbaker Bradley

My family decided to read this together, and I was excited that for once I finished the book before we met!

Ada is a girl born with a club foot that has been abused by her mother her whole life. Right now it's WWII in London, but Ada doesn't know that because she is kept locked away from society. She crawls for most of her life, because it's less painful than putting weight on that bad foot. But she begins to walk, which is good for her because her younger brother is about to be sent to the country to avoid bombs being dropped on them and she wants to go with him. Her mom says she will never leave this house, even if there are bombs falling on them. But Ada can walk well enough that she escapes with Jamie (her brother). An older boy gives her a piggy back ride to the train that they are boarding. When they get to the countryside, Ada and Jamie are the last people to be picked. In fact, they aren't even picked. The woman in charge of the refugee children hunts down a woman named Susan to watch after them. Initially, she says she doesn't know what to do with children. But she turns it around and they learn a lot together. Ada gets stronger at walking, and begins riding Susan's horse named Butter. Then she makes friends with the daughter of the woman that brought her to Susan. She is a wealthy little girl, and has a lot of horses.

Whenever Susan does something nice for Ada and Jamie, Ada pulls away. She can't let herself get too comfortable, because this won't be permanent and soon she'll be sent back home and treated like less than human. Susan takes the kids to a pediatrician, and they find out that Ada can have surgery to make her club foot more manageable. It will never be totally fixed, but they can make it so she can walk much more easily. She just needs permission from her mother. They then have a big Christmas dinner with some of the soldiers from the air base nearby.

One day, someone comes and digs a bomb shelter for them. They need to put up blackout sheets in the house, and begin to stock up the bomb shelter. Ada sees a man row a boat to the shore and put a briefcase in the sand. Then he pushes the boat away and begins walking to town. She goes to tell the police, and they find the man and arrest him when they see that the hem of his pants are wet.
The Germans begin bombing the coast, and Ada has a panic attack when she needs to go to into the bomb shelter. It reminds her of the cupboard her mom made her go into when she misbehaved. Susan makes the bomb shelter more livable with herbs and candles to make it feel more homey.
One day, Ada comes home to find her mom at Susan's house. her mother takes her home without listening to Ada's protests, and throws away her new shoes and clothes. She tells Ada she can't use the toilet anymore, and that she will never leave her room again.
Her mom leaves, and they hear the bomb raid sirens. Her mom didn't give her any directions on what to do when a bomb raid happens, so she takes Jamie and leaves. They make it to a bomb shelter, but not before a bomb hits nearby. When they emerge from the rubble, they find Susan running toward them. She had realized that she wanted the kids to live with her, and takes them. When they make it back to the coast, they find out a bomb had fallen directly on her house. The air raid sirens hadn't gone off, so if Susan hadn't come to find the children she would have died. Thus, they had saved each other's lives.
THOUGHTS
I had never thought of someone being grateful for the destruction of WWII. Especially when it came to children- children's stories in regards to WWII are heartbreaking. But there may have been people in Europe that were in a bad situation, and the disruption was what they needed.
In Europe back then, people hid their children that had disabilities. It was a source of shame. It is just sad that she didn't need to be disabled, because even back then they had a corrective surgery.