Once

by Morris Gleitzman

Hardcover, 2010

Status

Available

Call number

T F GLE

Series

Publication

Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) (2010), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 176 pages

Description

After living in an Catholic orphanage for nearly four years, a naive Jewish boy runs away and embarks on a journey across Nazi-occupied Poland to find his parents.

Barcode

1552

Language

User reviews

LibraryThing member cbl_tn
Felix hasn't seen his parents in the three years since they left him at a Catholic orphanage in Poland, but he expects them any day. Meanwhile, he writes stories about them in the yellow notebook they gave him. Felix has a gift for storytelling. Gradually Felix learns about what the Nazis are doing
Show More
to Jews in Poland, but in his innocence he often draws false conclusions. One day Felix slips away from the orphanage to search for his parents with no idea what dangers he will expose himself to in the process.

The Holocaust is a bleak subject for children's literature. Gleitzman handles the topic with sensitivity. Felix's stories fortify the spirits of those around him, and they serve the same purpose for readers. There's always a ray of hope that Felix will survive his ordeal. I listened to the audio version narrated by the author. Sometimes authors aren't the best readers for their works, but Gleitzman is better than many professional readers I've heard. Felix's story is continued in several more books, and these are high on my wish list.
Show Less
LibraryThing member CaroTheLibrarian
PLUS -
* A powerful, tragic holocaust story narrated by a Jewish Polish boy.
* I loved the way in which the story is told - Felix has been protected much of what has been happening in Poland by his parent's who managed to put him in a Catholic orphanage. When he leaves to go in search of his
Show More
parents a realisation of the horrors people have been through gradually dawns on him. This means that young readers work out the truth along with Felix.
* There are lots of parts to make the reader smile - the friendship between Felix and Zelda, and the stories that Felix tells - so it's not a depressing story. It is very emotional though.

MINUS -
* Readers probably need to know a certain amount of information about the Holocaust to fully understand what is going on, but there are notes at the end of the book.

OVERALL -
* It's emotionally charged but so well written. As ever, Morris Gleitzman manages to deal with hard hitting subjects with humour and sensitivity.
Show Less
LibraryThing member meggyweg
A beautiful and tragic Holocaust story, told through the innocent eyes of a nine-year-old boy. Sheltered in a Polish orphanage, posing as a Catholic, he has no idea what's going on around him until he runs away to find his parents. What he witnesses he at first does not understand, but the reader
Show More
does and gradually Felix's naiteve is stripped away. If you like Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed, you'll love Once.
Show Less
LibraryThing member sensitivemuse
Despite the serious and sombre subject matter of this book, I really liked how it was told. Felix is also a storyteller and it’s very fitting as his parents were booksellers. His naivete shows with the significance of finding a carrot in his soup, but as the book gradually progresses, he quickly
Show More
matures. He also gradually finds out what’s happening to his own people and this is where his naivete stops completely.

Once Zelda comes into the picture, Felix becomes an unofficial guardian for her. She may seem annoying and does patronize Felix much to his annoyance, but she also has a secret that the reader does not expect until the last third of the novel. I thought this was an interesting twist and definitely unexpected. However it shows no matter who’s side anyone is during times of war, everybody is a victim. I couldn’t help but feel sad for Barney, I admire his bravery for protecting lost children, and in the end it was almost just too sad to read because his fate remains rather grim.

The ending leaves for another book (it is a trilogy) and I think it’s well worth picking up. The fate of Felix and Zelda are left out in the open and I’m curious as to know what will happen to them.

It’s a great book for middle grade children and informing them about the Holocaust through the point of view of a child. It’s well written without the awful graphic details one might find in books containing this subject. I definitely do recommend this book for those interested in this subject and who want to teach younger children about it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jubilant_joy
I read this book to my fifth grade students when they are learning about the Holocaust. It is an amazing story of a young Polish boy named Felix who understands nothing about what is happening in his country. As the story unfolds, numerous incidents that he assumes are accidents or mistakes
Show More
gradually help him understand Hitler and the Nazis for what they truly are. His innocence is heartbreaking and helps helps develop a deeper understanding of the Holocaust through a child's eyes. Although honest, Once is appropriate for older elementary students while still being engaging to adults. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Show Less
LibraryThing member prkcs
After living in a Catholic orphanage for nearly four years, a naive Jewish boy runs away and embarks on a journey across Nazi-occupied Poland to find his parents.
LibraryThing member jiona
A story set during the second world war, the narrator being a young Jewish boy who runs away from an orphanage to find his parents.

Told in the first person, Gleitzman captures the brutality, violence and tragedy through innocent eyes. In this way, the novel provides a nice counter-point to Boyne's
Show More
'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas', telling the story of this time from a mirror perspective.

I thought the book was higly effective, dealing with incidents sensitively, without condescension but through an authentic narrative voice.

Great story worth the read, and I look forward to reading the next in the trilogy.
Show Less
LibraryThing member valfino
Once, written byu Morris Glietzman is a tragic yet heartwarming story involving a Jewish boy named Felix. Being an orphaned boy during the period of the Holocaust isn't a happy time at the orphanage, yet Felix is known for his storytelling and cheering fellow peers during hard times such as this.
Show More


After being given a carrot, being EXTREMLY rare at the orphanage, Felix, naive as he is, takes this as a sign of hope, indicating that his parents, Jewish booksellers, are alive and are trying to contact him so with that being, he sets across Germany to find them and himself, moraly.

Along the journey, his naive and unmatured mind has led him to believe that ''these angry men, shouting'', Felix referrring them whom of which are known as Nazis have nothing to do with infiltrating the country until the end of the storyline.

This book is targeted at ages 14+ as it is needed to be fully understood to get the storyline. It is a great read for everyone who loves books that are based on true events especially on war and I would rate this book a massive 5 stars as it was incredibly moving.
Show Less
LibraryThing member renatak
Felix is a young, Jewish boy living in Poland during the time of Nazi occupation in the 1940s. He is placed in an orphanage in 1939, and three years and eight months later he receives a whole carrot in his soup. He believes this is a sign from his parents, saying that they are finally coming back
Show More
for him. This immediately inspires him to escape from the orphanage, and journey across Poland in the hope of finding his parents.

Whilst he is on his crazy journey, he stumbles upon Nazis, an orphaned young girl, named Zelda, and a dentist who is hiding a group of Jewish children. The fact that Felix is so, unbelievably innocent and naive leads him to think of this horrific time, as simple mistakes or accidents. Experiencing WWII through the eyes of such a young child, allows the reader to see things in a different way. Even though the truth of WWII is not portrayed through the child's viewpoint, it still impacts the reader in an immensely harsh way.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes war fiction, as I do. Gleitzman yet again succeeds in writing a fabulous story. He manages to turn WWII into a journey of a young, Jewish boy with his heart set on finding his family.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Glorybe1
This is a lovely little book written for children so is quite short, but oh so poignant and heartbreaking. It has a similar feel to "Boy In the Striped Pyjamas"
The story is about a little Jewish boy called Felix looking for his Mum and Dad after the start of WWII, they have left him in an orphanage
Show More
in Poland as they could see what was about to happen. He runs away to find them as he does not understand what is happening around him. His adventures are traumatic and tragic.
Its hard to imagine how these children, thousands of them, had to endure these things alone with no idea whether or not they would ever see their parents again!
Its strange that a lot of these little books written for children are so sad and tragic but uplifting at the same time!
I would recommend this book to childrens and their parents alike.
Show Less
LibraryThing member lawral
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
Show More
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.
Show Less
LibraryThing member lilibrarian
Felix lives in a Catholic orphanage. He tells himself that his bookseller parents have gone off to find new books for their store. He makes up many stories to try to explain the madness around him. But after running away from the orphanage, he needs to face the truth of what is happening.
LibraryThing member MrsSewell
The childhood innocence in this story reminded me of the award winning movie "Life is Beautiful". A book that can't be put down.
LibraryThing member brokenangelkisses
This is one of those books that I can’t really explain my interest in. Something somewhere must have attracted me because it ended up on my Amazon wish list and shortly thereafter, as a result of a birthday, on my bookshelf. The other day I was looking for something easy to read and this slim
Show More
book caught my eye with its bright yellow cover and lure of a quick read.

The premise

The star of David on the front cover and the reference to a Nazi on the back cover make the setting of this book very clear. Writing about the experience of the Holocaust from the perspective of a child is not a new endeavour, but Gleitzman is a popular and successful writer of Young Adult fiction so I hoped that the subject matter would be sensitively handled. After reading, I can confirm that it was.

Our narrator is Felix, a young Jewish boy living in an orphanage run by nuns on the top of a mountain in Poland. It quickly becomes clear that he has been hidden there for his own safety by his loving parents, but after three years and eight months Felix seizes upon a small event as a sign of their imminent return. When they don’t materialise, he finds suitable rationalisations for this and sets out to find them, leaving the relative safety of the orphanage behind him. His journey forms the story.

The blurb on the back cover is minimal but hints that he will come into contact with danger. In particular, the note that ‘Once I made a Nazi with toothache laugh’ suggests that Felix will not remain free. Given the general knowledge of the horrors of the Holocaust, which schoolchildren in particular are likely to be familiar with thanks to their history curriculum, few readers will be anticipating a happy ending. Therefore, the dominant question of the book is not Felix’s quest (finding his parents seems incredibly unlikely) but if and how he will survive.

Once I escaped an orphanage to find Mum and Dad.

Initially I found Felix rather endearing, but my feelings quickly turned to irritation. He was endearing because of his clearly kind nature and his lively imagination, but the same factors soon became a little irksome as they seemed to be so extreme. He has a vivid imagination and for the first part of the story he interprets everything in an extremely positive and often rather ridiculous light. When I learned that he was ten I was stunned – he seemed more like six or so, but perhaps that would be a logical outcome of his sheltered upbringing in the orphanage. Regardless, his conclusions felt extremely illogical for a child this age and, as an adult reader, I was a little frustrated by his naivety.

I imagine a younger reader would be less likely to be bothered by this and, despite my irritation, it was an effective approach in that it forces readers to engage with the story. Knowing more than Felix did, I didn’t want him to leave the orphanage, and this was just the first of many such moments in the story where I felt involved and concerned for the main character. I thought that this was certainly effective in terms of engaging readers.

I prefer the latter half of the story where Felix begins to learn a little more about how this world works and his reactions are still exceedingly innocent but more realistic. However, it is also very sad that he has to develop maturity so quickly and before the story ends he has to make some difficult decisions and learn some abhorrent truths. It was genuinely touching to see him forced to develop his view of who the Nazis are and what they want. Along the way Felix meets other characters and this allows Gleitzman to develop his character. This helps to make him a more fully rounded and sympathetic figure. I thought the other characters were convincingly drawn and sufficiently interesting, especially Zelda, a young orphan who likes to think she is wiser than Felix and whose catchphrase is “Don’t you know anything?”

Once I saved a girl called Zelda from a burning house

Despite the subject matter and events the story never felt depressing even when capture seemed inevitable. The sheer innocence of the children, despite their terrible knowledge, created a subdued sense of hope. I did feel that the story was very sad, but events happen swiftly and are narrated very simply, in a way which I thought was suitable for Felix’s youth. It’s not that the writer skims over the horror: it is clearly there and I felt that the writing was more powerful for not labouring the point.

The chapters are not numbered. Instead, they all begin with “Once I” to signify a development in the narrative. I felt that this approach tied the chapters together nicely, especially as Felix likes to tell stories. In fact, in some ways this is as much a novel about the power of storytelling as it is the Holocaust. I thought this helped to make the story more engaging and that it fit well with the main storyline.

The chapters are short – usually somewhere between seven to nine pages – so it is easy to find a resting place, although I found that so much was happening that I read it all in one sitting.

The ending is rather open so it might not suit those who like all the ends neatly tidied away. However, I think this suited the nature of Felix and the story being told: the point is to have courage and to go on even when that’s hard. Besides, there is certainly sufficient sense of closure developed that the story feels complete, even if some readers might hanker to know What Happened Next.

The whole story is a mere 150 pages so it is a very quick and easy read. As events happen so quickly and the central character is so engaging I think this would be a good story for reluctant Young Adult readers. The language is straightforward, the plot is simple to follow and there is sufficient action to keep readers interested. Also, the font in this edition is a little larger than most books so it is very easy to read.

At the back of the book there is letter from the writer to the reader explaining why he wrote the story. I thought that this was a nice touch and, again, it is short and easy to follow. It encourages an empathetic approach to the story which I liked as I think that this is a very important skill to develop as a Young Adult.

Once I made a Nazi with toothache laugh.

Overall then it is a straightforward but touching read that I think will appeal to a wide readership. It is a book for Young Adults rather than a crossover book but it is well worth reading and will only take quick readers a couple of hours. It feels a little slim to justify the £6.99 RRP so I would buy it as part of a buy two get the third free deal or look around the second-hand market. (I know the marketing costs etc. are all the same cost-wise regardless of the size of the book, but I can’t help but feel a little reluctant to hand over £7 for anything less than 300 pages.) Recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jaseD
a touching holocaust story through the eyes of youth
LibraryThing member Rivetingreads
The story of Felix a young Polish Jew who escapes from a Catholic orphanage where his parents had left him almost four years before in the hope that he would be safe from the Nazis. Felix sets out to find his parents and his journey is portrayed in both a humorous and desperately sad way as he
Show More
comes to terms with exactly what the Nazi invasion and round up of the Jews means.
Show Less
LibraryThing member janjan1
An excellent portrayal of the brutality of the Holocaust told through the innocent eyes of a 9 year old Polish boy who gradually understands the reality of the fate of his missing parents. Two more books will finish the series - Now and Then.
LibraryThing member shell70
Oh my gosh! This story is so powerful. You will be so moved that you will forget that you are reading this horrifying story but living it! Felix and Zelda's journey will never leave you even after the last page has been read.
LibraryThing member mcgarry
Yr 7 - Yr 8.
World War 2
Once I escaped from an orphanage to find Mum and Dad. Once I saved a girl called Zelda from a burning house. Once I made a Nazi with toothache laugh. My name is Felix. This is my story.
LibraryThing member eglinton
The Grausamkeiten of the Holocaust were so unspeakable that fiction would seem to have little to offer. But here Gleitzman uses the innocence of a child’s eye perspective to create a story that manages to be affirmative as well as sad. Felix, the narrating character, is a child with a fertile
Show More
imagination and a good heart, and he gets things done. Thankfully for him, he’s unaware of the gruesome realities his story is part of. We are not spared yet somehow come away with an uplifting feel.
Show Less
LibraryThing member smg-mschwab
This story is a short one and quite an easy read but it is beautifly written and I loved it! It is amazing on the struggle Felix faced in Poland. I'd definitly reccommend this book a fantastic read. 5 Stars!
LibraryThing member bookwyrmm
I have read a number of YA books concerning the holocaust, but this is the first to make me laugh and cry simultaneously. Gleitzman really captured what a 10-year-old sheltered boy must have felt when first encountering Nazis and the horrors in Poland in 1942.
LibraryThing member benuathanasia
Wonderful. This book had great character building and a lovely buildup of understanding for the main character; he starts with a juvenile, sheltered understanding of the political strife of his country that blossoms slowly into realization. I intend to read the others eventually.
LibraryThing member norabelle414
- audiobook - A little Jewish boy named Felix lives in Poland at a Catholic orphanage, even though he knows for sure that his parents are still alive somewhere. He is waiting for them to come back and get him when he is forced into action by the arrival of strangers at the orphanage. The strangers
Show More
are called "Nazis" and from what Felix can tell, they hate books and want to burn them. This is unfortunate for Felix, because his parents are booksellers. So he escapes from the orphanage to find his way back home and save his parents' books from being burned by Nazis.

It feels wrong to say that my favorite thing about this story was how short it was, but there really is a certain integrity to the fact that it doesn't drag on and on. I found Felix's very strong obliviousness and denial annoying at first, but he eventually comes around. His journey is very difficult - not just the physical journey, but his emotional realization that he has been shielded from the evil of the world his whole life. When the book ends his physical tribulations have not begun to end, but at least he is fully aware of where he stands in the world. I also enjoyed that some of the events in the book are based on true stories. Highly recommended for a short and emotional read (or listen, as the author is an excellent narrator).
Show Less
LibraryThing member Breony
Reminds me of the movie a beautiful life. I enjoy the way the Author writes as a child, his innocence always trying to find an explanation for the actions of the adults he witnesses.

ISBN

0805090266 / 9780805090260
Page: 2.2735 seconds