Now

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Felix is a grandfather. He has achieved much in his life and is widely admired. He has mostly buried the painful memories of his childhood, but they resurface when his granddaughter Zelda comes to stay with him. I had an idea what she was thinking. Something like, oh no, he’s finally lost it. He thinks he can replace a ten year old character with an eighty year old one and readers won’t get upset and throw books at him in libraries. There are some wonderful characters here, some that remind me of Zelda, some you really really hope have a happy ending. Readers have witnessed the traumas that shaped Felix into the strong, kind man of ‘Now’, and in ‘Soon’ we’re still witnessing that transformation unfold. For Felix in this book, it’s really a push-pull of doing the right thing and still struggling to survive.

Morris Gleitzman - Now

As an older reader you experience the horrors of war creeping into Felix’s reality slowly, bit by bit and with a gut-churning inevitability that you wish you could stop… It’s utterly horrendous. But the Holocaust is something that should always be remembered and taught to younger generations, and Gleitzman’s ‘Once’ series is incredibly accessible for young readers (10+), while never once refraining from the impacts of death or the gravitas of war and genocide. Elsie doesn't know what's worse: living in the garage with your mom, grandmother and uncle behind the house that used to be home or having your father abandon you. Then her mother and uncle also leave, supposedly for jobs. Her miserable situation is all because of the Depression, which is affecting families everywhere. Her best friend, Scout, who is going to be a newspaperman, helps her search for her dad. But when Rev. Hampton takes them to see the dance marathon to show how exploitative it is, clues begin to add up. The Canadian setting and dialogue establish context for the terms hoboes, shantytowns and the phrase, "could you spare a dime." Though today’s readers won’t be familiar with the Depression, dance marathons or references to Bing Crosby, cribbage and Eaton’s catalog, the search for family and relationships in tough times rings true. The evocative title refers to the coins thrown at a favored dance couple. Once past the unappealing cover, readers will find an absorbing and perceptive story. (Historical fiction. 9-12) Morris, Linda (12 February 2018). "Australia's new children's laureate Morris Gleitzman hopes to inspire children in dark, uncertain world". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 12 February 2018.I'm not sure if I enjoyed this book as much as the first two. I preferred Felix's narration to Zelda's and Zelda's situation, although horrible, couldn't really compare to the horror of what Felix went through.

Now by Morris Gleitzman | Waterstones

The stories in Digging Up Dad are of a similar type to the ones in my other collections, but this time I've highlighted one aspect of them a little more. You may already have spotted the H-word in the title, a word that describes all my short stories, but one I haven't used on a cover before. She said it was an unusual but interesting way to finish Felix’s story and she looked forward to reading it. I could see she was happy that there would be a third Felix book and I knew why. Three books makes a trilogy, and there have been many fine and famous trilogies throughout literary history. And she was probably hoping mine would be among them. Reading Gleitzman books is hard. It's a dilemma. You really want to read it, but you are too scared to know what will happen. And war never brought happiness nor good things. Some people were bad, and some were dying. And Once series is full of both.They’re alive,’ says Gabriek. ‘Sensible people stay alive because they don’t get involved in other people’s business and they don’t take risks.’ 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 a toothache laugh. My name is Felix. This is my story.' NOW, I live to read the third book as Felix, in the present, trying to face his terrible past with his grand-daughter.