The War I Finally Won

Bradley, K. B., & Bradley, K. B. (2017). The war I finally won. New York, NY : Dial Books for Young Readers, [2017].

The book "The War I Finally Won" is about a brave young women whom was born in a middle of world war II. Not only was she neglected by her mother, she had a club foot, she had a young brother she felt responsible for, she was uneducated therefore was home-schooled and she was caught in the middle of a war. Ada (the brave young women) moved in with Susan whom later became her legal guardian when her mother passed away. She had a surgery that cured her club foot and she did all that she could to keep her and her brother safe. She moved in with the rich Lady Thorton whose daughter is her best friend and whose son is fighting in the war. Lord Thorton brought an eleven year old German girl for Susan to teach. Ada was afraid that the German girl might be a spy. It turned out that the German girl is a Jew therefore, her resentment against Hitler and Germany is much more than Ada and Britain. Ada lived in fear that someday she will wake up to bombs and smoke everywhere and has a fear of one day losing the people she love. Everyday for Ada and her family is a struggle to survive.

This is such an amazing story. I couldn't stop reading and I couldn't stop crying at the experience Ada went through while growing up. While reading this book, every single detail that was explained made me felt like I was there. I could see and feel the danger of the war and I could feel the pain that was surrounding and sometimes overcoming Ada. I could read this book a hundred more times and still cry every time I read it especially when the news of the death of Lady Thorton's son arrive to their doorstep. This is such a great book and I highly recommend this novel for learning social studies and history. This book will help everyone to understand how hard life was growing up in a time period of war. I got to understand more about the history of the Holocaust, what the people where feeling at the time, and how some of them were able to survive. In addition, this story will help student view the relationship of German and Jews during this time. Every experience in this story was real to me and I guaranteed the same experience for others if they read it.

Reviewed by: Delsa Mana'o