Various themes are developed: a child’s love and understanding for an older person, new relationships for both the characters and coping with a traumatic bush fire which stirs up old memories for Felix.Ī recommended trilogy which deals with a difficult subject in a matter-of-fact and sensitive way. Zelda is being bullied at a new school, staying with Felix whilst her parents are doing charity work in Africa. In the third story, Now, Felix is eighty years old living in Australia, and grandfather to Zelda, aged ten. Now is the third in a series of childrens novels about Felix, a Jewish orphan caught in the middle of the Holocaust, from Australian author Morris Gleitzman - author of Bumface and Two Weeks with the Queen. Her journey is to realize that not all Nazis had a choice and that there were good memories, too. She reacts with horror and hatred for her parents. Zelda’s prize possession is her parents’ photo in a locket, but she realizes that he is wearing a Nazi uniform.

Once by Morris Gleitzman is the story of a young Jewish boy who is determined to.

The relationship between Felix and Zelda is expanded in the second book Then. Once Once/Now/Then/After (Paperback) Morris Gleitzman (author). THEN I found out what the Nazis did to his best friend Zelda. He leaves the orphanage and, whilst hiding out from the Nazis, saves a six-year-old girl, Zelda, from a burning house. Another compelling chapter in the life of Felix, hero of the award-winning series of books that includes Once, Then. ONCE I didnt know about my grandfather Felixs scary childhood. Gradually the truth dawns that they shall not be coming back for him. The first book starts in a children’s orphanage run by Catholic nuns, where Felix waits for his parents to return for him. The reader knows the probable truth from the beginning, but has to wait until Felix has experienced both hope and despair before he achieves comprehension and acceptance. With Felix, a 14-year-old Polish Jewish boy, the reader witnesses terrifying, incomprehensible incidents, but as Felix grows in understanding he realizes the truth behind the events. A trilogy told from a child’s viewpoint about the Holocaust and the Nazi domination.

Once then now morris gleitzman