''Once'' is a 2005

children's novel Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

by Australian author

Morris Gleitzman Morris Gleitzman (born 9 January 1953) is an English-born Australian author of children's and young adult fiction.Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

boy named Felix who lived in Poland and is on a quest to find his book-keeper parents after he sees Nazis burning the books from a Catholic orphanage in which had stayed at for 3 years and 8 months. He finds a girl, who is unconscious, called Zelda in a burning house with her dead parents—he takes her with him and protects her from confronting her parents' death by telling her stories. Although ''Once'' is a work of fiction, Gleitzman was inspired by the story of

Janusz Korczak Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (22 July 1878 or 1879 – 7 August 1942), was a Polish Jewish educator, children's author and pedagogue known as ''Pan Doktor'' ("Mr. Doctor") or ''Stary Doktor'' ("Old Doctor"). After spending ...

, the events of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and Hitler's attempt to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe. ''Once'' was translated into German (') and was nominated for the 2010

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis The (German Youth Literature Award) is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's and young adult literature. It is Germany's only ...

; it won the 2011 . The sequels to the book are ''Then'' (2009), ''Now'' (2010), ''After'' (2012), ''Soon'' (2015) ''Maybe'' (2017), and ''Always'' (2021). In chronological order of Felix's life, the books are ''Once'', ''Then'', ''After'', ''Soon'', ''Maybe'', ''Now'', and ''Always''.

Development

Although ''Once'' is a work of fiction, Gleitzman was inspired by the story of

, the events of

, and Hitler's attempt to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe. As research for the novel, Gleitzman read several books about and by young people in the Holocaust, including ''The King of Children'' by Betty Jean Lifton (a biography of Janusz Korczak), ''Salvaged Pages: Young Writers' Diaries of The Holocaust'', edited by Alexander Zapruder, ''The Hidden Children'' by Jane Marks, ''Words to Outlive Us: Eyewitness Accounts From the Warsaw Ghetto'', edited by Michał Grynberg, ''Witness: Voices From The Holocaust'', edited by Joshua M. Greene and Shiva Kumar, ''A Childhood'' by

Jona Oberski Jona Eliëser Joseph Oberski (20 March 1938) is a Dutch writer, and a nuclear physicist. A year before his birth, his parents escaped from Nazi Germany to the Netherlands, and settled in Amsterdam. But when World War II broke out, the country wa ...

, '' Maus'' by

Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade (comics maga ...

, ''

The Diary of a Young Girl ''The Diary of a Young Girl'', also known as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Neth ...

'' by

Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...

, ''Born Guilty'' by Peter Sichrovsky, ''The Hidden Children'' by Howard Greenfeld, ''Children of the Ghetto'' by Sheva Glas-Wiener, ''Konin: A Quest'' by Theo Richmond, ''The Boys'' by

Martin Gilbert Sir Martin John Gilbert (25 October 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He was the author of eighty-eight books, including works on Winston Churchill, the 20th century, and Jewish h ...

, ''Flares of Memory: Stories of Childhood During The Holocaust'', edited by Anita Brostoff with Sheila Chamovitz, ''Yiddishland'' by Gerard Silvain and Henri Minczeles, ''Children With a Star'' by

Debórah Dwork Debórah Dwork is an American historian, specializing in the history of the Holocaust. She is the Founding Director of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and formerly served as the Rose Professor of Holocaust History at Clark ...

, and ''Ghetto Diary'' by Janusz Korczak.

Reception

The Horn Book Guide described ''Once'' as "this is the rare Holocaust book for young readers that doesn't alleviate its dark themes with a comforting ending". The School Library Journal recommends this book as a 'read aloud' book, and notes how it contrasts "how children would like to imagine their world with the tragic way that life sometimes unfolds." Kirkus Reviews describes Felix's misconceptions of the world "heartbreaking", and described his story as being "packed with sadness", with a tinge of hope offered by the character inspired by Janusz Korczak.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Once (Novel) 2005 novels Australian children's novels Novels by Morris Gleitzman Novels about the Holocaust Novels set in Poland 2005 children's books

Development

Reception

References

Further reading

External links