Once (book)
Once (English: Once ) is a 2005 published children's book by Morris Gleitzman , the 2009 by Uwe-Michael Gutzschhahn was translated into German. Under the motto “For all the children whose stories were never told”, the book tells about life in 1942 in Poland during the time of National Socialism . It is the first book about Felix and Zelda to be continued in 2009 with Then , which won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers .
action
In 1942, nine-year-old Felix has been living in a Catholic orphanage in the mountains of Poland for over three years , where his parents, Jewish booksellers , hid him to protect him from the persecution of the Jews under National Socialism . When the Nazis burn the books of Jewish authors in the orphanage, Felix sets out to find his parents. On his way through occupied Poland he befriends the six-year-old girl Zelda, whom he rescues from a burning house when her family was murdered by the Polish resistance movement because her father was a Nazi officer. He gets to know Barnek, who saves and hides him, Zelda and a few other children who are to be transported away by the Nazis after the adults were shot. Finally the Nazis find the hiding place. The end of the story remains open after Felix and Zelda escape a train transport to a concentration camp , while the children stay behind in the carriage with Barnek out of fear.
To the title
Towards the end of the novel , Felix says that he doesn't know how his story will end. Barnek replies that everyone deserves to have something good once in a lifetime ( "... everybody deserves to have something good in their life. At least once." ) Then Felix said: "I have it." More than once. "( " I have. More than once. " )
radio play
A radio play version of the novel by Cordula Dickmeiß was produced at SWR in 2012 under the direction of Tobias Krebs.
Awards
Web links
- From the incomprehensible. NZZ , reviewed on January 6, 2010
- Once. Publisher's page with reading sample