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.
I had a plan for me and Zelda. Pretend to be someone else. Find new parents. Be safe forever. Then the Nazis came. A moving and beautifully written story of two orphans fighting to survive in Nazi-occupied Poland.
One of Australia's, and now the world's, best-known and loved children's authors, Morris Gleitzman tackles tough subjects in a funny and offbeat way . He has never set out to write "issues books" and says that his writing is as much for himself as for his readers.
THE BASICS
Born: Sleaford, Lincolnshire, January 9th 1953 Jobs: Paperboy, Shelf-Stacker, Department Store Santa Claus, Frozen Chicken Defroster, Assistant to Fashion Designer, Rolling-Stock Unhooker in a Sugar Mill, TV Comedy Writer, Magazine Columnist Lives: Victoria First Book: The Other Facts of Life, 1985
