So Smith certainly was instrumental in making me a writer-but I still can't answer why so many children's book writers graduated from Smith. With a firm grasp of memorable characterisation and a gift for emotionally resonant prose, Bradley delivers a highly impressive slice of wartime drama. Patty and Jane Yolen did in fact become my mentors-though it was a long time before I was brave enough to consider myself primarily a writer. Ultimately uplifting despite its dark subject matter, The War That Saved My Life focuses on the story of Ada, a sheltered girl abused by her mother for her clubfoot, on the eve of the Second World War. Then sophomore year, faced with a schedule that included organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, and physics, I took a children's literature class, taught by none other than Patricia MacLachlan the year that she won the Newbery for Sarah Plain and Tall. On the very last page I read that the author had attended Smith-which no one in my small Midwestern home town had heard of-and I remember a shiver passing over me, like I was seeing my future, though of course that couldn't be true. The night before I left home for my freshman year I stayed up late to finish a book I'd taken out from the public library-Dicey's Song, by Cynthia Voigt. Martin, Cynthia Voigt, Elizabeth George Speare, Natalie Babbit, Jane Yolen. Martin, Cynthia Voigt, Elizabeth George Speare, Natal …more I know it's true, but I can't explain it! The list in my head includes Madeleine L'Engle, Ann M. Kimberly Brubaker Bradley I know it's true, but I can't explain it! The list in my head includes Madeleine L'Engle, Ann M.
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