Monday, January 6, 2020

After by Morris Gleitzman





After by Morris Gleitzman
Genre: Middle Grade, Young Adult, Historical Fiction
Source: Purchased

            This is the fourth book in the series. We go back in time to catch up with what had happened to Felix. Gabriek, whose wife was hiding young Felix and Zelda are dead. Gabriek if part of a resistance movement and has continued to hide Felix in a hole in his barn. On his thirteenth birthday Felix can hear people above him talking. He follows them into the woods. He assumes they are Nazis and are going to kill Gabriek and he yells to give Gabriek a chance to escape. He soon learns that Gabriek is not in danger. When they return to the farm it is on fire. Gabriek is injured and so Felix takes him back into the woods to get help. They are allowed to stay. They do make Felix prove himself. Once again he is an assistant to the doctor. It is his experiences throughout his childhood of helping assist doctors that made him a well known doctor in his adult life. In this book Felix is once again put into the position of helping save three sisters.  He has matured considerably. Now that he knows who Hitler is he no longer prays to him, but to Richmal Crompton who was a well known author at the time. I still found this a funny occurrence. The tension has gone up a notch in this book and I can’t wait to read the next one.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Now by Morris Gleitzman



      This was a unique turn in the book series. In this book, Felix is an old man with a granddaughter named Zelda. She is named after the young girl Felix tried to save and who was brutally murdered by the Nazis. In this book, Felix lives in Australia. His granddaughter loves her grandfather but questions some of the things he does. She doesn’t understand that a part of him is still living in and dealing with a traumatic past. Like her grandfather’s past, Zelda has a bully problem. His pasts experiences and memories help them both. When a brush fire breaks out a lot is lost, while a lot is gained. I found two interesting things about this fire. One was that it was based on an actual fire that occurred in 2009 and the second was that at the time of this post, Australia is going through another traumatic brush fire.  This is the third book in this series. At one point the author had planned to make this the end of a trilogy. As we all know, when our characters are not finished telling their story they must be heard. Because of that, there are three more books in this series. Once again I will say that this is a must-read series.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Then by Morris Gleitzman


Then by Morris Gleitzman
Genre: Middle Grade, Young Adult, Historical Fiction
Source: Purchased a copy


In the second book in this series Felix has taken Zelda under his wings. He has decided  to help them find a new home and find his parents who he still thinks is alive. He holds on to this hope throughout. Zelda claims she is Jewish even though she isn’t. Her parents were actual Nazi supporters. As Felix and Zelda travel across Poland they witness the horrors of the Nazis. Felix does his best to shield her from a lot of this violence. He tells her stories to take her mind off of any troubles they may run into. As a ten-year-old he seems at times so much older. Zelda is only six and can definitely be annoying. Felix takes it all in stride.  This is the second book in the series and the tension is just beginning to get really taught. I highly recommend this series.