Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Books in Order

If you want a gripping World War II story: The War That Saved My Life → The War I Finally Won → The Night War.
If you love rich historical fiction: Jefferson's Sons → For Freedom → The President's Daughter.
If you prefer contemporary, issue-driven reads: Fighting Words.
If you are choosing for younger middle graders: Ruthie's Gift → One-of-a-Kind Mallie → Weaver's Daughter.
If you are a horse-obsessed reader: The Perfect Pony → Phoenix.

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley writes books that stay with readers long after the last page, from quiet World War II stories to contemporary novels about sisters, slavery, friendship and survival. Many of her books are written for middle grade readers, but they tackle big questions about justice, power and what it means to feel safe. She is a two time Newbery Honor recipient for The War That Saved My Life and Fighting Words.(en.wikipedia.org)

Bradley was born in 1967 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and grew up as the kind of kid who would happily skip recess to sit in the library and talk about books. She loved reading and she loved science, but as a child she did not imagine that writing could be her job one day.(en.wikipedia.org)

At Smith College in Massachusetts she majored in chemistry, fully expecting to become some sort of scientist. A roommate convinced her to try an Introduction to Children's Literature course taught by Newbery medalist Patricia MacLachlan, and it changed everything. MacLachlan and fellow author Jane Yolen encouraged Bradley's early drafts and helped her learn both the craft and the business of writing for children.(en.wikipedia.org)

Through college and the years that followed, Bradley wrote whenever she could. She freelanced for equestrian magazines, edited part time and, while her husband Bart was in medical school, worked as a research chemist by day and wrote at night, on weekends and in the very early mornings. Gradually the freelance and ghostwriting work grew steady enough that she could leave the lab and focus on stories instead.(aamearts.org)

Her debut novel, Ruthie's Gift, was published in 1998. Set on an Indiana farm at the start of World War I, it follows eight year old Ruthie through a year when a new baby, new friends and the shadow of war force her to rethink what kind of girl she wants to be. The book earned strong reviews and spots on several state award lists, a confident beginning for a new historical novelist.(bookreporter.com)

Bradley kept returning to the past. She wrote about Cedarville, Indiana again in One-of-a-Kind Mallie, this time from the perspective of a twin who longs to be seen as an individual during World War I. In Weaver's Daughter she moved to the 1790s Southwest Territory, following a pioneer girl with severe asthma whose fears about her own mortality are set against questions of slavery, medicine and faith. Later books carried readers to Marie Antoinette's Versailles in The Lacemaker and the Princess, to Nazi occupied Cherbourg in For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy, and to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Jefferson's Sons, which imagines life for his enslaved children with Sally Hemings.(publishersweekly.com)

Many readers met her through The War That Saved My Life and its sequel The War I Finally Won. These novels follow Ada and her younger brother Jamie, children evacuated from London at the start of World War II who find an unexpected home with Susan Smith in the English countryside. Between bomb shelters, ration books and the sounds of planes overhead, the books focus on healing from abuse, learning to trust adults and discovering that found family can be as real as any blood tie.(en.wikipedia.org)

Bradley has also written powerful contemporary stories. Fighting Words centers on Della and Suki, sisters in foster care who are coping with sexual abuse, poverty and a system that is not always designed to listen to children, and it earned her a second Newbery Honor. More recent work returns to wartime Europe in The Night War, about a Jewish girl hiding near the Chateau de Chenonceau in occupied France, and turns toward horse centered fiction in Phoenix, the first book in her Ride On series about a neglected horse and the girl who learns to care for him.(en.wikipedia.org)

Today Bradley and her husband live on a fifty two acre farm outside Bristol, Tennessee, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, with horses, a dog and a shifting population of cats. When she is not at her desk she is often at a barn or traveling, still feeding her curiosity about history in places as well as in archives. She is drawn to everyday people who do brave things, and her books highlight how small acts of courage can matter as much as famous names and battles.(aamearts.org)

Across all of her work, she writes in clear, direct prose that respects young readers and trusts them to handle hard truths alongside moments of humor, hope and quiet joy.