This book was fantastic. I am always so impressed by people who can write about WWII and make it interesting (after so, so, SO many WWII books). This book is about Ada and Jamie, a few children who were evacuated from London during the Blitz and their experience for the first year of the war. Their evacuation was not typical and not terrible for them--they actually were leaving their abusive, neglectful mother and were placed with a woman who took great care of them and ended up loving them. Ada had a deformed foot which meant her mother forced her to stay in their one-room apartment for her whole life without ever leaving, until she ran away to leave London with her brother Jamie. The book is really kind of her story of overcoming that abusive past and learning to trust Susan, their new guardian. I loved how you got to see into Ada's head and to understand how she was thinking, especially when she couldn't say what was bothering her or what she was thinking. You got a really good sense of how traumatized kids might feel and act because of their fear and how they've been sensitized to their surroundings. It was so sad, but also hopeful, to see the small bits of progress Ada makes over the year she stays with Susan. The climax of the book was a nail-biter, and I loved how it ended. This is definitely a chapter book I would want to have on my shelves later on.
No comments:
Post a Comment