Review: Then (Once #2), by Morris Gleitzman

Then (Once #2)
By Morris Gleitzman
Publication Date: March 1st, 2008 (Puffin Books)
Hardcover, 198 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction; Holocaust; YA
Source: Library

DESCRIPTION (WHICH CONTAINS SPOILERS TO THE FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES, ONCE; SO, IF YOU HAVEN'T READ ONCE, DON'T READ THIS  BOOK DESCRIPTION):

Felix and Zelda have escaped the train to the death camp, but where to they go now? They're two runaway kids in Nazi-occupied Poland. Danger lies at every turn of the road.

With the help of a woman named Genia and their active imaginations, Felix and Zelda find a new home and begin to heal, forming a new family together. But can it last?

Morris Gleitzman's winning characters will tug at readers' hearts as they struggle to survive in the harsh political climate of Poland in 1942. Their lives are difficult, but they always remember what matters: family, love, and hope.

—from goodreads.com

REVIEW:

The Once Trilogy—and especially this book, Then—is a gazillion times more heartbreaking than The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. 

Then, is told by Felix, a ten-year-old Jewish boy, who is reminiscent of—but not as clueless as—Bruno from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (however, I guess Felix being less clueless of the Holocaust than Bruno makes sense, since Felix is a Jewish boy living through the horror, and Bruno is a Nazi officer's son, sheltered from most of the violence). The plot follows Felix as he struggles to take care of and protect his friend/adopted sister, Zelda.

As much as I love Felix, he is a bit naive and that's something I don't really tolerate in main characters, especially in Holocaust fiction. When the main character comes across a pit of dead children, all twisted and tangled up together, his first though shouldn't be "They're all sleeping together," even if he first thinks this when he is not up close to the child-body pit. 

Zelda was a lot more ignorant, but since she was only six-years-old, her ignorance gets a sort of pass. Zelda was strong-willed and ill-tempered most of the time. Her trademark saying is "Don't you know anything?" and this is usually what she snaps at Felix. Because of her quarrelsome nature, the tender moments she had with Felix made her lovable in her own way.

I may have loved Felix and Zelda, but Amon was my favorite favorite favorite character, even though he wasn't highlighted in Then very often. The parts that he was in introduced me to a very caring and sympathetic person, and I hope to see him in the next book in the Once Series, Now.

Then, by Morris Gleitzman was tragic and beautiful, and I can't wait to read the next book, Now.

RATING: