Biography

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is an American children's and young adult book author. In 2016, her children's book The War That Saved My Life received the Newbery Honor Award and was named to the Bank Street Children's Book Committee's Best Books of the Year List with an "Outstanding Merit" distinction and won the Committee's Josette Frank Award for fiction. (source: Wikipedia)

Bibliography highlights

The War That Saved My Life: 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 for Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. 

The War I Finally Won: When Ada awakes from surgery on her club foot, the news that greets her will change the course of her life. Doors that her mother had shut tightly are swinging open—But World War II rages on. 

Fighting Words: Ten-year-old Della has always had her older sister, Suki: When their mom went to prison, Della had Suki. When their mom's boyfriend took them in, Della had Suki. When that same boyfriend did something so awful they had to run fast, Della had Suki. Suki is Della's own wolf--her protector. But who has been protecting Suki?

Most recent release: The Night War: It’s 1942. German Nazis occupy much of France. And twelve-year-old Miriam, who is Jewish, is not safe. With help and quick thinking, Miri is saved from the roundup that takes her entire Jewish neighborhood. She escapes Paris, landing in a small French village, where the spires of the famous Chateau de Chenonceau rise high into the sky, its bridge across the River Cher like a promise, a fairy tale. But Miri’s life is no fairy tale.

My reading experience

I don’t think I can be normal about The War That Saved My Life, to be quite honest. It’s one of the books that really got me back into reading middle grade on its own merits, not just as part of my job. And Ada’s journey in both that book and The War I Finally Won is so emotionally resonant for me that I’m just!! 

Bradley has such a deft touch with very heavy subjects, such as abuse and child sexual assualt, that keep the focus squarely on the narrator and how they understand and experience the world. While these are heavy topics, she writes about them in a way that will help kids who have experienced these things feel seen, and help others understand a little better. 

Readalikes

• The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman: Historical fiction about the Chernobyl disaster and its effects on the lives of two young girls

• Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga: Deeply affecting novel-in-verse about a young Syrian girl who flees with her mother to the US.

• Jennifer Nielsen: Nielsen writes across several genres but is best known (at least, at my library!) for her immersive historical fiction books, including A Night Divided (communist era Berlin) and Words on Fire (Lithuanian resistance).