A Newbery Honor Book
Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award (Middle School)
Winner of the Josette Frank Award
Winner of the Sunshine State Young Readers Award
Wall Street Journal Best Children's Books of 2015
New York Public Library's 100 Books for Reading and Sharing
Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books 2015
Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2015
Kirkus Best Books of 2015
Horn Book Fanfare Book 2015
Ten-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada's twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn't waste a minute — she sneaks out to join him.
So begins a new adventure for Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan — and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother?
"Achingly lovely . . . Nuanced and emotionally acute, this vivid tale from the wartime home front will have readers ages 10-14 wincing at Ada's stumbles and rejoicing to the point of tears in her victories." — The Wall Street Journal
Paperback.
