Once [Hardcover]

Morris Gleitzman (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 30, 2010

Felix, a Jewish boy in Poland in 1942, is hiding from the Nazis in a Catholic orphanage. The only problem is that he doesn't know anything about the war, and thinks he's only in the orphanage while his parents travel and try to salvage their bookselling business. And when he thinks his parents are in danger, Felix sets off to warn them--straight into the heart of Nazi-occupied Poland.

To Felix, everything is a story: Why did he get a whole carrot in his soup? It must be sign that his parents are coming to get him. Why are the Nazis burning books? They must be foreign librarians sent to clean out the orphanage's outdated library. But as Felix's journey gets increasingly dangerous, he begins to see horrors that not even stories can explain.

Despite his grim suroundings, Felix never loses hope. Morris Gleitzman takes a painful subject and expertly turns it into a story filled with love, friendship, and even humor.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6–9—Felix lives in Poland in 1942, and reading is his survival mechanism. Now almost 10, he was sent to a Catholic orphanage three years and eight months earlier by his Jewish bookstore-owning parents, and he's convinced himself that the sole reason he remains in hiding is because Nazis hate books. He's a natural storyteller, and when he finds a full carrot in what is typically a woefully thin bowl of soup, he fantasizes that it's a sign from his parents that they're finally on their way to take him home. When the orphanage is visited by surly Nazis instead of joyous parents, Felix escapes with only his cherished notebook full of his stories into the nearby countryside, still hoping for a family reunion. He soon discovers a burning home with two slain adults in the yard and their young daughter bruised but still alive. He takes Zelda on his journey, shielding her from the reality of her parents' deaths in much the same way he's been comforting himself, by inventing alternative realities. But, as he encounters the escalating ugliness of the death marches that are emptying his old neighborhood, now a ghetto, Felix becomes increasingly conflicted about the need to imagine a hopeful order and the need to confront brutal reality head-on. An easy first-person narrative in terms of reading level—and a good choice as a read-aloud—this Holocaust story also taps gut-punching power by contrasting the way in which children would like to imagine their world with the tragic way that life sometimes unfolds.—Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

The horror of the Holocaust is told here through the eyes of a Polish Jewish child, Felix, who loses his innocence as he witnesses Nazi-led roundups, shootings, and deportations. After nearly four years in a kind Catholic orphanage, he runs away to find his parents. First he returns home, where he is chased away by new residents. Then he journeys to the city (that is, the ghetto), gets help from other fugitives, discovers the Nazis’ incomprehensible brutality, and is forced into a train bound for the camps. Through Felix’s traumatized, present-tense viewpoint, readers learn of the genocide, in which books and bodies were burned en masse, as well as one victim at a time, including a baby who is shot dead in its high chair. Most moving is the lack of any idealization. Felix rescues a lost little girl, but rather than idolize him, she fights and fumes: Don’t you know anything? Felix escapes, but one and a half million Jewish children did not, and this gripping novel will make readers want to find out more about them. Grades 7-10. --Hazel Rochman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); First Edition edition (March 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805090266
• ISBN-13: 978-0805090260
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #337,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A heartwrenching story May 2, 2010

By J. Prather TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

What an amazing book. Hearing the story of the holocaust told in the voice of a 10 year old child is heart breaking. Felix is a boy of amazing imagination and he wears his imaginative story telling ability like a suit of armour that protects him from the atrocities that he sees around him. He makes up stories about why his parents would have left him at a Catholic orphanage, about why a nazi soldier would shoot at him, and why the nazis would hate the jewish people. His attempts to make sense of something that doesn't make sense is a chilling reminder of all the innocent children who lost their lives. Watching Felix lose his innocence and realize the horrible truth about what probably happened to his parents will bring tears to your eyes. The strength of this book is Felix's narrative voice. He is so incredibly believable that it's somewhat surprising to read in the author's note that Felix wasn't a real boy. The most startling thing is that through it all, Felix is steadfast in his belief in good - that he has something good in his life and has all along. This is an inspiring read that I believe would be perfect for young middle schoolers. It would be a great way to introduce this time period to 5th or 6th graders. Just as compelling and well written as The Boy Who Dared (geared toward a bit older audience).

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A harrowing look at WW2 Poland through the eyes of a child April 6, 2010

By Lawral Wornek

Format:Hardcover

Booktalk:
Once there was a boy named Felix who lived at an orphanage in Poland, only he wasn't an orphan. Almost four years ago Felix's secret alive parents left him with Mother Minka, at the orphanage, so they could travel and find out why their bookstore had to close.

Once Nazis came to the orphanage and burned all the Jewish books in the library. Then Felix knew the answer to his parents' problem. See, Felix not only has secret alive parents, he's also secretly Jewish. Maybe if his parents sold more books that the Nazis liked, their bookstore wouldn't have to close.

Armed with this revelation, Felix leaves the orphanage to find his parents. Instead of them helping and protecting him, maybe Felix can save them, just this Once.

Review:
Doesn't the whole premise of this book stress you out? It stressed me out. For a book of 163 pages* I had to put it down more than a couple of times because I was just too nervous for Felix. He was so young when his parents left him at the orphanage. This is, presumably, why they didn't tell him why they were really leaving him in the hands of a bunch of nuns, and the nuns certainly didn't tell him either. How could they? How could they explain that to 6 year old Felix when he entered the orphanage? Besides, if Felix didn't pray to God, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the Pope and Adolf Hitler like the rest of the orphans, he'd stand out.

It was heartbreaking to watch Felix do things like return to his family's home in what used to be a Jewish neighborhood, try to flag down a truckload of soldiers when he needs help, or pray to Adolf Hitler to keep him safe, as he's been taught to do. He really has no idea what is going on in Poland and the rest of Europe. He has no idea that at ten years old he is a hunted man. His realization that it is not Jewish books that the Nazis hate, but Jews themselves, is painfully slow, and yet I never once doubted the authenticity of Felix's thought processes and take on the situation around him. As Felix's naivety lessens to make room for the huge weight of his new knowledge, it is sometimes hard to believe that he is only ten, or even that he is the same boy that I met at the beginning of the book. This is not to say that Felix's voice lost any of its authenticity, he is just aged so much by what he has to go through.

Even given the subject matter, and the violence does get a bit graphic by the end, this is a beautiful book. The stories that Felix makes up for himself and others to get them through the really hard times, the people that help Felix along the way, and the hope and compassion that Felix just never loses make this an (almost) uplifting story. The ending is not horrific or magically happy. The sequel, Then, is available in the UK and will hopefully be available in the US soon.

Book source: Review copy from publisher

*This page count is from an uncorrected proof and may not match the published copy.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Capture the kids in your class with this book March 15, 2007

By Mrs. Jennifer Naylor

Format:Audio CD

As a teacher who loves to read to the class I have been bowled over by the response to this book by the children in my class. It is a funny and sad tale all in one. A young Jewish boy, Felix, leaves the orphanage in Poland where his parents have hidden him to save the families book shop. Experience tells me that Year 4 children need explanation of some of the concepts in the book, but they love it.

Worth a look if you want to talk about the impact of war and its futility.