The War That Saved My Life

The second book I read for the 2017 reading challenge was The War that Saved my Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.

This book won a Newbery Honor award in 2016. You can find all the Newbery Award and Honor books at the ALA website.

Newbery awards are given to the most distinguished American children's book published in the previous year. The award has been given out since 1922.

I've read quite a few Newbery Award and Honor books since I was a school librarian. I really enjoyed this one.

The story takes place during World War II. Ada and Jamie live with their cruel mother in a one-room flat in London. Ada is ten years old, and she has never been outside. Her mother is ashamed of her because she has a club foot. Ada has never even walked, but she is beginning to realize that she could have a life outside her window. One day, a notice came home from school with Jamie that all children should be sent to the countryside to be protected from bombs that would likely hit London.

Ada's mom says that Jamie can go, but not Ada. In the middle of the night, Ada woke Jamie and left the flat for the first time. They got on a train to Kent and were placed with a woman named Susan. There, Ada slowly came to life as she was free to explore the outside world. Susan, who was at first reluctant to take children in, became the mother Ada and Jamie needed.

This was a touching and informative book of the World War II era in London. It is recommended for grades 4-6, but I would lean toward the higher side because of the mother's insensitive cruelty.

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Baby Gift

When someone I know has a baby, I sometimes give the gift of books. The new parents usually get enough cute little baby outfits and diapers and toys, so books are an unusual surprise.

Here are four of my favorite books to give to new parents:

Goodnight Moon is a classic baby book by Margaret Wise Brown. I read it so many times to my kids I can still say it by heart. "In the great green room, there was a telephone, a red balloon, and a picture of the cow jumping over the moon." This book just slides off the tip of your tongue. It is a joy to read.

The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton is the cutest little board book about animals getting ready for bed. This book makes settling down for bedtime something to look forward to.

I love Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh because it is the simplest book about mixing colors I've ever come across. One day three white mice find three jars of paint:  red, yellow and blue. They find out how colors are made by accidentally stepping into more than one color at a time.

Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg was a favorite of Katherine's because it ties in with Mother Goose and Fairy Tale characters. It is also an "I Spy" book.

On the first page (which I remember to this day) it reads, "Each peach, pear plum, I spy Tom Thumb." On that page, she would have to find Tom Thumb hiding up in the tree.

The next page reads, "Tom Thumb in the cupboard, I spy Mother Hubbard."

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Goosey

When she was two years old, Katherine's favorite book was The Real Mother Goose. She carried it around with her, and when she wanted us to read it to her, she would say, "Goosey". We would read this book to her almost every day. It turns out this was a good thing. Research shows that nothing boosts language development early in life more than nursery rhymes.

After I became a librarian, I found many more versions of Mother Goose that I liked better. Here are three of my favorites:

This one would have been more appropriate for a two year old.  The rhymes are simple and the illustrations are more baby friendly.

Arnold Lobel is one of my favorite children's authors. His illustrations are humorous, and the rhymes in this book appeal to older children.

The "You Read to Me, I'll Read to You" series was a favorite in the library. The rhymes are set up so that the parent reads part of the rhyme, and the child reads the other part. At the end of each rhyme, parent and child read a line together.

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