Anna and the Swallow Man vs. The War That Saved My Life

Team 15 was unable to blog but they did vote for The War That Saved My Life to move on.  Wondering why? Here is a little quote from Elizabeth Wein's review in the  New York Times about Anna:

There are two questions about Gavriel Savit’s splendid debut novel that are sure to be asked repeatedly: Is it an allegory, and at whom is it aimed? The first I believe Savit answers clearly. “The world understands stories,” he has one of his main characters come to realize, “not as absolute, irrevocably factual truths that simply don’t exist, but as flaccid allegories or metaphors.” You may read the novel as allegory; go ahead. All stories are allegory. This one makes use of stock figures from European folklore (the fool, the golem, the trickster, the demon, animal shape-changers). It’s also tempting to expand on ways in which the novel’s characters represent aspects of the Polish people during World War II. 

From School Library Journal here is a piece of Elizabeth Bird's review:

Ada is ten and as far as she can tell she’s never been outdoors. Never felt the sun on her face. Never seen grass. Born with a twisted foot her mother considers her an abomination and her own personal shame. So when the chance comes for Ada to join her fellow child evacuees, including her little brother Jamie, out of the city during WWII she leaps at the chance. Escaping to the English countryside, the two are foisted upon a woman named Susan who declares herself to be “not nice” from the start. Under her care the siblings grow and change. Ada discovers Susan’s pony and is determined from the get-go to ride it. And as the war progresses and things grow dire, she finds that the most dangerous thing isn’t the bombs or the war itself. It’s hope. And it’s got her number.


Sounds like both books are in the same genre and both look like they are worth a read.