6/82) - but the two volumes of Ada’s story fill that void, with bells on.įrom the September/October 2017 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

Today’s generation of readers is unlikely to discover Magorian’s classic Good Night, Mr. Bradley sweeps us up in the story she’s telling and at the same time raises hard questions and makes us think - even as she moves us to tears. Throughout everything, events both mundane and dramatic (and there are a ton the book is packed with incident), runs the thread of Ada’s emotional healing as she slowly, gradually, allows herself to trust the stability and love Susan offers and grows into the young woman she wants to be. Lady Thorton herself becomes a much more nuanced character as she recognizes the limitations of her privileged upbringing, and grieves over the death of her RAF pilot son. Memorable characters? Plenty, including Jewish refugee and math whiz Ruth, whom Lady Thorton despises for being German. The story opened my eyes to some realities of life in Britain during World War II that were new to me. Details of life on the WWII home front? Check: food rationing fire-watching blackout curtains pig clubs. The War I Finally Won pdf is historical fiction that is both touching and eerie in its exploration of family dynamics and the vulnerability of children during wartime. But once she, younger brother Jamie, and guardian Susan are back in their village, adjusting to the cavernous “cottage” Lady Thorton lends them after their own house was destroyed by a bomb, the story settles in, and we settle in with it. 1/15) begins with high drama: surgery for London-slum-born Ada to correct her clubfoot the news that abusive Mam has died Ada’s mistaken belief that she’ll now be sent to an orphanage - and her complicated feelings about all of it. This sequel to Bradley’s Newbery Honor–winning The War That Saved My Life (rev.

The war i finally won