Welcome back to 'Book Reviews By Sophie McC.'
On this post I will be doing my second book review on the 'Once' book as well as some brief notices on the rest of the books in the series. (Once, Then, Now, After, Soon and Maybe) All of these books are written by the fabulous 'Morris Gleitzman.'
Firstly, I will begin with my review of the book, followed by some general information and finally a brief description of what the books are about.
My Review
Oh. My. Gosh. 'Once' and the rest of the books in this series are pretty much my FAVOURITE books ever! I received the first three books for my birthday this year and I have absolutely devoured them. These books are written about World War II and reading them made me feel extremely grateful of what our world is today. This is something that I guarantee every reader will feel. Something that makes the books unique and different from other types of books is that in 'Once' every single chapter begins with 'Once.' In the next book 'Then.' every single chapter begins with 'Then.' and so on. I love how Morris has done this! These books are written in first person point of view. (Character/Narrator has told events using the words 'I' and 'we.') Because they have been written in this style, it makes all the events seem so realistic. It makes the characters feel like real people and it makes characters feel like they are your friend and it feels like you know them. Because of this, it makes the events that the characters face, feel like you are facing it with them and your emotions will come about when reading these books. Readers will experience different emotions whilst reading these books. Emotions readers will experience are, sadness, anger/frustration, hopefulness/optimism plus many more.
'Once' (and the rest of the books in the series) is an emotional and heart-warming adventure that will make you appreciate everything that we have now. It will keep the reader on the edge of their seat wanting to more and what happens next.
My Overall Rating of 'Once' and the series is, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Although, I highly recommend that you read 'Now' after reading the rest of the books because it is about Felix's (the main character) grand-daughter and I finished 'Then' (it ends on a cliffhanger) and I moved onto 'Now' and wasn't the next stage in Felix' life, it was his future and the main character was his grand-daughter. I found it a bit confusing at first but I could still understand what was happening, but that's something I wish I had done.
General Information
There are 6 books in this series. (Once, Then, Now, After, Soon, Maybe)Each book is around 150-200 pages long.
The books are Juvenile Fiction.
My recommendation is readers who are 11+ or readers who understand the effect of WWII.( Honestly I would even recommend adults to read this if they want to).
Brief Description
'Once' is set in the time of World War II and the main character Felix is Jewish. He has a love of books and writing stories and his parents own a bookstore. They place Felix in an orphanage promising that they won't forget him. But Felix is too young to understand what is actually going on with World War II. Felix escapes the orphanage to find his parents. Felix walks to his home town to find his parents and their bookstore. Once he arrives he realises his town isn't the same anymore. Eventually Felix heads into the city and along the way Felix meets a small girl who has lost her parents in a house fire. But, she doesn't know what happened to her parents. Along the journey to the city to find their parents, Felix and the little girl (Zelda is her name) Felix eventually realises what the Nazi are after. They, as well as other children are both rescued by a nice man called Barney who looks after the children for some time in a hidden cellar. Those children are quite young and they adore Felix because he can tell stories to entertain them. Felix goes with Barney to help him with his dentist job. Because he can tell stories, he entertains the patients which is a big help. Throughout the book Felix and Zelda face and see things that children should never have to experience. The hiding place that Barney has been keeping the children as well as Felix and Zelda is found by the Nazi's. They take each of the kids and Barney into a train. The Nazi nail the door shut. Felix finds a way to make a hole in the train. He among others risk their lives to jump off the train. They will either be shot or they will survive.Each of the books in the series is the next stage of Felix's journey on finding his parents. The exception is 'Now' which is Felix's grand-daughter's story.
For some more information on the author and his books, you can check out Morris' website at www.morrisgleitzman.com/
Thank you! ❤
Sophie x
(Photos accessed from Morris' website, Booktopia.com.au, Penguin Books Australia and schoolessentials.com.au)
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