Review of Once
The Plot
'Once' is first book of the 'Once',
'Then', 'After' and 'Now' book series.
It begins with the main protagonist,
Felix who is a 10 year old Jewish
boy, in the midst of World War 2
but he has no clue that he is. Nazis
(German Soldiers) arrive at Felix’s
Catholic orphanage to discover
that the orphanage has been
keeping Jewish books. The Nazis
burn these Jewish books, and Felix
witnesses them doing it. Felix
recalls his parents owning a book
store containing Jewish books.
Felix packs his bags and escapes
from the orphanage to save his
parents’ store.
Felix arrives at his parents’ store only to discover every Jewish person had been taken away to the city. Determined to find his parents, Felix sets his mind to walk as fast as he can towards the city. During the walk Felix stumbles across a burning house. He finds a little girl called Zelda and decides to take her along the journey.
Along the way, Felix and Zelda come across many hardships, obstacles and friends.
The Verdict
Morris Gleitzman’s writing style is great but he should improve on describing action. The beginning starts off a bit slow so you may be deterred from the book, just keep reading and you’ll end up sticking to the book like glue. The plot is amazing and I highly recommend this book to others, although some scenes may be disturbing. (Recommended for ages 9+) The whole series is available at the BLSPS school library. I give "Once" 9.5 out of 10.
AJ Looks at the popular novel, "Once" by Morris Gelitzman
14
Image supplied by
www.morrisgleitzman.com