Shortlisted for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2009
In Once, Morris Gleitzman created a brilliant and unusual way of telling the story of how two children survived in Nazi Germany. In the sequel Then, Felix and Zelda continue on their journey to safety. Felix, who tells the story in a simple, first person narrative, knows they need new parents if they are to survive but how will they know who to trust and will anyone be willing to risk their own lives to take them in? Felix and Zelda do find kindness and love in a world that is filled with fear and brutality. Morris Gleitzman has a rare ability to inject humour appropriately into such difficult subject matter making Then a remarkable book for all ages.
Felix and Zelda have escaped the death camp train, but where do they go now? They're two runaway kids in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II and the Holocaust. Danger lies at every turn of the road.
With the help of a woman named Genia and their active imaginations, Felix and Zelda find a new home and begin to heal, forming a new family together. But can it last? Morris Gleitzman's winning characters will tug at readers' hearts as they struggle to survive in the harsh political climate of Poland in 1942. Their lives are difficult, but they always remember what matters: family, love, and hope.
