June 23: A Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor!
The accolades continue for Fighting Words–now an Honor book for the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award!
Jun 24
First Review for The Night War!
I am delighted to have received the first (starred!) review for The Night War from Kirkus!
“A young girl escapes a Nazi roundup and plots to flee occupied France.
The year is 1942. Twelve-year-old Miriam Schrieber and her parents live in Paris, having fled Berlin after Kristallnacht in 1938. But the Nazis invaded France two years later, and Miri remains haunted by the memories of witnessing her neighbor Monsieur Rosenbaum being taken away. Now, the gendarmes are rounding up all the Jews in her neighborhood and putting them on buses bound for the Velodrome d’Hiver, where they’ll await an unknown fate. Miri’s parents are missing when the roundup takes place, and Madame Rosenbaum urges Miri to escape with Nora, her toddler daughter. The girls flee and are saved by a Catholic nun, who arranges to send Miri to a convent school in Chenonceaux. The village fortunately borders Vichy France, offering an escape route to Zurich, where Madame Rosenbaum’s cousin lives. Nora is placed with a Catholic family, and Miri does her best to fit in with the other students. A desperate moment leads Miri to channel her fear into the courage required to help refugees seek safety across the border, while also plotting her own escape with Nora. This poignant story moves quickly but takes care to consider with sensitivity the excruciating choices Miri must make at every turn as she’s torn between choosing safety and honoring her heritage and her convictions. A gripping, humane tale that examines what war demands of children and what it costs them.” -Kirkus Reviews, starred
2021 Newbery Honor and Odyssey Honor!
I am absolutely thrilled to announce that Fighting Words has received a Newbery Honor medal and an Odyssey Honor from the American Library Association!! I am so incredibly happy and grateful. As I’ve said many times, this book is my heart. Thank you to Bahni Turpin for the wonderful audio narration.
All my congratulations to Newbery Medal winner Tae Keller, author of When You Trap a Tiger, my fellow honorees, and to all the other winners of the ALA Youth Media Awards!
Kirkus Prize Finalist
As announced in this morning’s New York Times, Fighting Words has been named one of six finalists for this year’s Kirkus Prize for Children’s Literature, alongside Jason Reynolds’ adaption of Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped, Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James’ I Am Every Good Thing, Carole Lindstrom and Michaela Goade’s We Are Water Protectors, Hanna Alkaf’s The Girl and the Ghost, and Elizabeth Acevedo’s Clap When You Land.
So thrilled to be in the company of these books.
7 Stars!
Thrilled with the critical acclaim for Fighting Words, which has received starred reviews from Kirkus, The Horn Book, Booklist, School Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books, and Bookpage.
Fighting Words: Coming Summer 2020
My new tattoo is covered by a band-aid but halfway through recess the band-aid falls off. I’m walking back to the fourth-grade classroom when my teacher, Ms. Davonte, gasps.
“Della,” she says, “is that a tattoo?”
I hold up my wrist to show it to her. “It’s an ampersand,” I say, careful to pronounce the word correctly.
“I know that,” Ms. Davonte says. “Is it real?”
It’s so real it still hurts, and the skin around it is red and puffy. “Yes, Ma’am,” I say.
This excerpt is from the opening of Kim’s book Fighting Words, set to be published in Summer 2020.
Jan 2
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all had happy holiday seasons. I’m absolutely thrilled by the reception that TWIFW has received so far, from its instant bestseller status to its appearance on many Best Books of the Year lists! I’m hard at work on my next story. Does anyone know how to read hieroglyphs?
TWO new starred reviews!!
Awesome news today for The War I Finally Won, with two new starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal!! (There may have been a happy dance.)
PW:
*starred review*
Bradley picks up directly after the events of her Newbery Honor–winning The War That Saved My Life, which introduced tenacious Ada who—after years of mistreatment from her mother because of her club foot—summoned the determination to carve out a better life for herself amid the onset of WWII. The war affects 11-year-old Ada more directly now, as she, her younger brother, and their guardian Susan reunite with the prim Lady Thorton, her daughter Maggie, and their family, and Ada undergoes a surgery that allows her better use of her foot. These familiar characters are joined by Ruth, a 16-year-old Jewish German refugee, who has been separated from her family, including a grandmother detained in a concentration camp. Ada and Ruth’s interactions, which begin warily and flourish into sisterhood and trust, portray a perceptive look into othering; it’s Ada who first sees Ruth is more than her German heritage. Bradley sensitively portrays Ada’s journey to accept selfless kindness and love after years of neglect in a poignant and satisfying story of found family that will stay with readers.
SLJ:
* Eleven-year-old Ada picks up her story shortly after The War That Saved My Life left off. …….Ada’s unique voice helps evoke the novel’s vivid setting and numerous complex characters. There is destitution but plenty of humor. There is also plenty of heartbreak and loss, so readers will want to keep a box of tissues handy. VERDICT Fans of the first book will love the sequel even more; truly a first purchase. While it stands alone, encourage readers to read both books to fully appreciate Ada’s remarkable and wholly believable triumph.–Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ
The Full SLJ Review with spoilers can be viewed by clicking on the link!
Another star from Kirkus!
Very excited to announce that we have received the second starred review for The War I Finally Won from Kirkus Reviews!
The full review has been published online here (Warning: contains slight spoilers!) and will be in the review magazine released tomorrow!
Excerpt below!
Ada returns in this sequel to Newbery Honor book The War That Saved My Life (2015)…Enough back story is provided that readers new to Ada’s story won’t be lost. Patient Susan, providing a home to Ada and her little brother, Jamie, during the Blitz, becomes their legal guardian, but Ada, damaged by 10 years of abuse, doesn’t ever feel safe. Living in the midst of a world war only adds to Ada’s constant worries, and from blackout screens to rations, the stress and strain felt in everyday Kent during World War II is plain…
Ada’s struggles with her trauma are portrayed with such incredible nuance and heart-wrenching realism that readers are sure to empathize deeply and revel in the joy of watching thoughtful, introspective Ada heal and grow. When tragedy strikes, all suffer, but Ada is able to help another in greater anguish than herself thanks to lessons from her own painful past. Thoughtful, brave, true, and wise beyond her years, Ada is for the ages—as is this book. Wonderful. (Historical fiction. 10-14)
Horn Book Starred Review!
Very exciting news (a few days old, but oh well!) about the first review for The War I Finally Won! Excerpts below!
The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
This sequel to Bradley’s Newbery Honor–winning The War That Saved My Life
(rev. 1/15) begins with high drama…Details of life on the WWII home front? Check: food rationing; fire-watching;
blackout curtains; pig clubs. Memorable characters? Plenty, including Jewish refugee
and math whiz Ruth, whom Lady Thorton despises for being German.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…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. Today’s generation of readers is unlikely to discover Magorian’s classic Good Night, Mr. Tom (rev. 6/82)—but the two volumes of Ada’s story fill that void, with bells on.
The full review will be published in the September/October 2017 Horn Book Magazine. Warning: the full review does contain spoilers!
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley 