The historical fiction The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Bradley, takes place in England during the WWII. The main characters Ada and Jamie runs away from their mom who abused them. They got into the evacuee train for children and end up living with Susan. Ada had club foot, and Jamie was unintelligent and rude. Susan did not have experience of raising children, and the children were not educated. They did not know their first name, birthday, age, and they did not know how to behave to others. As story goes by all them learn from each other.
The artwork I made for this book is collage of picture and symbols that represents the story. The first picture is broken heart. This shows broken relationship between Ada and Jamie with their mom. Ada was never treated as a daughter in the family. Mother called her “a monster, with that ugly foot” (pg.4), “nobbut a disgrace” (pg.4). She had no interest in Ada, and never took care of her. The second picture, which is a person sitting alone shows how Ada was at home. She was never allowed to go out from her apartment. She was lonely, isolated, alone. The only people she was allowed to talk was her mom and Jamie. The third picture of the woman represents the freedom. When Ada and Jamie were staying with Susan, they were able to do whatever wanted. They ate good food, took bath, sleeping in soft beds, new clothes, meet with dentists, riding horse Butter. For the first time, Ada was free to go out from the house whenever she wanted.
The fourth picture of horse represents Butter, a racing horse left behind from Susan’s best friend when she passed away. Before arrival of Ada and Jamie into the house, Susan was also mentally unstable. Ada who has clubfoot, loved to ride Butter. Although she fails to ride in the first practice, she never gave up. For her, Butter was hope.
The fifth picture of mom and son hugging each other represents the true family. Ada and Jamie never experienced what family really is. Susan also forgot the feeling of family (Spoiler Alert!) ever since her best friend died. With time and understanding, they become more like family than any real family relationship. “I(Ada) sat on the sofa with Miss Smith (Susan)’s arm around me, and Jamie breathing soft near my shoulder, and I attached the coal fire flicker, and I stayed right there, right there in that room, and none of us moved for half an hour”(pg. 141). This quote shows how the bond between the character have changed and became so strong that they do not have talk but understand each other, just like how family would do.
The last picture in the middle with heart and two girls hugging shows (Spoiler Alert!) why the title is The War That Saved My Life. In the middle of the story, children’s mom comes and take the children away to London, back to the apartment. There, they were still treated the same way before their escape. Later (Spoiler Alert!), Susan comes and take the children back to her house. However (Spoiler Alert!) when Susan was away, Germans have bombed her house. So, if Susan did not go find the children, then she also would have gotten killed. The story ends with two saving of the war, which is saving Ada and Jamie from abusing mom, and Susan from bombing and depression from death of her best friend. At the end, the book ends by saying “It left like the ocean, like sunlight, like horses. Like love. I searched my mind and found the name for it. Joy. “So now we’re even,” I (Ada) said” (pg.316). This shows how both characters find each other as savior of life.