Once I escaped from an orphanage to find Mum and Dad. Once I saved a girl called Zelda from a burning house. Once I made a Nazi with a toothache...
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Apr 10, 2011
Lyndsey
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When I was young 'un, we had this storytelling board game in our house. If memory serves me right, it was called, simply, "Once..."
The basis of the game was to create a story from a card prompt and people had to guess whether it was true or not - or something like that anyway.
As many things do, at first this game went over my head a bit. *swoosh* Because in my everyday life, whenever I would try to make up a story (or more accurately - what you might call a white lie) to my f More...
The basis of the game was to create a story from a card prompt and people had to guess whether it was true or not - or something like that anyway.
As many things do, at first this game went over my head a bit. *swoosh* Because in my everyday life, whenever I would try to make up a story (or more accurately - what you might call a white lie) to my f More...
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Dec 22, 2011
Troy
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**Don’t spoiler it for the kids**
Morris Gleitzman’s ‘Once’ doesn’t leave a dry eye in the room. This is a children’s book about The Holocaust, a fact that, if you’re anything like me, immediately sets off alarms bells. The schmaltzy epigraphs don’t help: “My name is Felix. This is my story” and “Everybody deserves to have something good in their life”. But what succeeds is a really great kid’s book. Morris’s prose is laconic but hefty, and his narrative moves along at a c More...
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Aug 01, 2011
Set in Poland in 1942, Felix has spent the last three years and eight months living in a Catholic orphanage up in the hills. But unlike the other orphans, Felix’s parents were not dead when he was left there - they knew that they were all in grave danger, and that Felix’s best chance of survival was to stay with the nuns and pretend to be Catholic.
One day, Felix witnesses something at the orphanage which he knows will affect his bookseller parents, so he runs away to find them to warn them of th More...
One day, Felix witnesses something at the orphanage which he knows will affect his bookseller parents, so he runs away to find them to warn them of th More...
Feb 14, 2012
Sofia
rated it: 
Once is a novel set in WWII Poland, and is about a 10-year-old Jewish boy, Felix. Felix is living in an Orphanage, hiding from the Nazi's, with parents still alive. One day, a carrot in his soup changes his life.
That carrot is the thing that makes him decide to escape the Orphanage.
The first place he goes to is his old house -- the bookshop his parents owned. The street was once crowded, but now it's deserted. New people have moved into the bookshop... and they know he's a jew. H More...
That carrot is the thing that makes him decide to escape the Orphanage.
The first place he goes to is his old house -- the bookshop his parents owned. The street was once crowded, but now it's deserted. New people have moved into the bookshop... and they know he's a jew. H More...
Dec 03, 2011
Sarah
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Is a Holocaust novel ever an enjoyable read? No, and I actually avoided reading this for a while despite the praise for it because I didn't feel up to reading about it from a child's point of view. However, I picked it up one day and read it in one sitting. It's difficult to write a Holocaust novel that isn't affecting - in fact, I don't know that it's possible, since merely describing the events is horrifying in and of itself - but this one was affecting in a very specific way because of it's n
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Sep 11, 2011
Krystl
rated it:
This is a fairly high 3 stars. It's a very short "novel" (I listened to it on audio-3 discs) about a naive Jewish boy who's parents sent him away to a catholic orphanage in hopes that he wouldn't get caught and sent to a camp, or even know what Hitler and the Nazi's were. This boy constantly tells unrealistic stories to himself to keep himself happy and ignorant about the world, and to make other people feel better about their situation, or to try and improve their life.
For m More...
For m More...
Jun 09, 2011
Peep (Pop! Pop!)
rated it:
You know, this may be more of a middle grade book, but it is still very good. Sometimes it's sad, sometimes funny, sometimes sweet, and sometimes horrifying.
Felix really was a great protagonist. You felt bad for him because part of me thinks he knew what was going on, but he tried so hard to make a different reality. It's understandable, but to me, the reader, it just made me sadder! At one point he sees “police” burning books and he convinces himself that they are against bookselle More...
Felix really was a great protagonist. You felt bad for him because part of me thinks he knew what was going on, but he tried so hard to make a different reality. It's understandable, but to me, the reader, it just made me sadder! At one point he sees “police” burning books and he convinces himself that they are against bookselle More...
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May 31, 2011
Iskreads
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Favorite quote:
"It could end in a few minutes, or tomorrow, or next year, or I could be the world's most famous author in the year 1983, living in a cake shop with a dog called Jumble and my best friend Zelda however my story turns out, I'll never forget how lucky I am." Pg 150
Introduce the book:
"Once" is about a Polish boy named Felix, who lived in the time when the Nazi's ruled. It is par of a trilogy, but "Once" is my favorite book. The other More...
"It could end in a few minutes, or tomorrow, or next year, or I could be the world's most famous author in the year 1983, living in a cake shop with a dog called Jumble and my best friend Zelda however my story turns out, I'll never forget how lucky I am." Pg 150
Introduce the book:
"Once" is about a Polish boy named Felix, who lived in the time when the Nazi's ruled. It is par of a trilogy, but "Once" is my favorite book. The other More...
Apr 26, 2011
Leigh
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Nov 30, 2010
Marjorie
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I did not want to like Once. I hated that cover line: “Everybody deserves to have something good in their life. At least once.” Damn it, “anyone” does not agree with “their”! Even if I am the last person fighting this battle I will continue to fight it! GAH! But um, more importantly, Once sounded to me like a rehash of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a book I loathed. Children (and adults) do not need faux-naif, manipulative, emotionally inauthentic Holocaust books. I’d thought Once was about an
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Oct 03, 2010
Becky
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Felix Salinger has a secret. It is 1942, and he is living in a Catholic orphanage. Only he's not Catholic--he's Jewish. Mother Minka has agreed to keep Felix safe until his parents, who are book sellers, finish taking care of their bookshop troubles. At least that's what Felix believes. Until the day the Nazis come to burn the orphanage's "Jewish" books. Felix escapes from the orphanage to return to his parents' shop to hide their books so the Nazis can't burn them. But his pare
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Sep 27, 2010
Monster
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Once there was a boy who told stories, whose parents left him in an orphanage in the mountains and didn’t say why. He lived there for nearly four years, until one day he saw professional librarians arrive and burn all the books in the library. Except they weren’t librarians, and they were burning all the Jewish books they could find, not just in the library there, but everywhere. The boy decided to find his parents, Jewish booksellers, and help them save their books.
What he didn More...
What he didn More...
Jun 04, 2010
Margo
rated it:
Recommended for ages 12 and up
I have to say I was more than surprised when I picked up this slim volume by Morris Gleitzman. Wait a minute, I said to myself, isn't he the wacky Australian author who writes those wickedly funny books about cane toads? Not the first author one would think of to write a book on one of the most tragic events in human history. Then I remembered The Entertainer and the Dybbuk, written by the very funny Sid Fleischman, and I knew that reading Once was a must More...
I have to say I was more than surprised when I picked up this slim volume by Morris Gleitzman. Wait a minute, I said to myself, isn't he the wacky Australian author who writes those wickedly funny books about cane toads? Not the first author one would think of to write a book on one of the most tragic events in human history. Then I remembered The Entertainer and the Dybbuk, written by the very funny Sid Fleischman, and I knew that reading Once was a must More...
Mar 21, 2010
Doesn't the whole premise of this book stress you out? It stressed me out. For a book of 163 pages* I had to put it down more than a couple of times because I was just too nervous for Felix. He was so young when his parents left him at an orphanage. This is, presumably, why they didn't tell him why they were really leaving him in the hands of a bunch of nuns, and the nuns certainly didn't tell him either. How could they? How could they explain that to 6 year old Felix when he entered the orphana
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Mar 15, 2010
Kate
rated it:
One of my 7th grade students absolutely devours historical fiction set during the Holocaust, and she was waiting for this one, standing at my desk, tapping her foot as I turned the last page today.
The main character, Felix, begins the story as a unique (and heartbreaking) unreliable narrator. He's a Jewish boy, hidden in a Catholic orphanage, and utterly unaware of the danger he's facing. When he sets out to find his parents, he sees evidence of the Nazis destruction but misinterpre More...
The main character, Felix, begins the story as a unique (and heartbreaking) unreliable narrator. He's a Jewish boy, hidden in a Catholic orphanage, and utterly unaware of the danger he's facing. When he sets out to find his parents, he sees evidence of the Nazis destruction but misinterpre More...
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Oct 17, 2009
Mahalia
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 20, 2011
farfromperfection
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I read this as a class with my LA teacher, and let me just say: brilliant.
I absolutely adored this. It had very good humor in the first section of the book, probably to just let the readers "get into the mood", but as the book progresses, it takes a dark turn. A very dark turn, and as you get closer to the end, a tragedy happens.
Gosh, I can't quite grasp the words to describe this book, because it just is ... indescribable. It starts out with a very naïve young orph More...
I absolutely adored this. It had very good humor in the first section of the book, probably to just let the readers "get into the mood", but as the book progresses, it takes a dark turn. A very dark turn, and as you get closer to the end, a tragedy happens.
Gosh, I can't quite grasp the words to describe this book, because it just is ... indescribable. It starts out with a very naïve young orph More...
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May 26, 2010
Briony
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This book has definitely thrown me into a maelstrom of confusion and emotions, so much so that I am having a hard time rating this book. When I first started to read this book, I was a little uncertain of it. I felt that it was very juvenile and I had a hard time believing that a child, especially a Polish Jewish child, during this time could be so sheltered from the war. I knew that there had to be two things for Felix to be so naïve; his parents left him at the orphanage at a very early age an
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Feb 16, 2009
Gabrielle
rated it:
There are few books that have made me laugh aloud, and even fewer that have made me cry. This book made me both laugh aloud and sob my heart out, sometimes almost at once.
It's written from a child's perspective - which Morris Gleitzman is brilliant at - but it's definitely written for older readers. It's all about the death and cruelty of the holocaust, as seen through a child's eyes. Disturbing, of course, but rightly so. Because that sort of thing is disturbing and horrible and cru More...
It's written from a child's perspective - which Morris Gleitzman is brilliant at - but it's definitely written for older readers. It's all about the death and cruelty of the holocaust, as seen through a child's eyes. Disturbing, of course, but rightly so. Because that sort of thing is disturbing and horrible and cru More...
Jan 21, 2012
Tracy
rated it:
This YA novel will stay with me for quite some time. I've read numerous books about WWII, even many featuring children as primary characters or narrators, but this story was uniquely moving.
Its portrayal of war seems even more horrifying, viewed as the events were, through the eyes of a child who doesn't at first understand what's happening. His ability to explain away what the reader knows is terrifying was heart-wrenching.
It doesn't matter how many novels, biographies, or More...
Its portrayal of war seems even more horrifying, viewed as the events were, through the eyes of a child who doesn't at first understand what's happening. His ability to explain away what the reader knows is terrifying was heart-wrenching.
It doesn't matter how many novels, biographies, or More...
Jul 20, 2010
Peter
rated it:
i thought that this was a good book. it is about a jewish boy named felix living in the 1940's, who slowly learns through out the book about the holocaust. he first thought they were people who burnt jewish books when he was in an orphanage, but after he ran away to look for his parents (who he thinks aren't dead) he now know who the nazis are. my favorite part of the book was the end. Not because it ended because the end had a powerful meaning, " Barney ( a friend Felix made when he journ
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Jan 25, 2012
Cécile
rated it:
Magnifique livre sur la seconde guerre mondiale.
Mix entre le film "la vie est belle" et le livre "l'enfant au pyjama rayé", "Un Jour" nous raconte l'histoire de Felix, garçon polonais de 10 ans qui s'enfuit de son orphelinat pour retrouver ses parents et qui se retrouve plongé dans l'horreur de la guerre.
Nous suivons donc les aventures de ce garçon qui déborde d'humour et d'imagination.
Si les histoires qu'il raconte et qu'il se raconte montrent, au dé More...
Mix entre le film "la vie est belle" et le livre "l'enfant au pyjama rayé", "Un Jour" nous raconte l'histoire de Felix, garçon polonais de 10 ans qui s'enfuit de son orphelinat pour retrouver ses parents et qui se retrouve plongé dans l'horreur de la guerre.
Nous suivons donc les aventures de ce garçon qui déborde d'humour et d'imagination.
Si les histoires qu'il raconte et qu'il se raconte montrent, au dé More...
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Nov 01, 2011
Holliewalbaekken
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Once is a book with true courage and a truly amazing story.It is 1942 and Felix begins his story in an orphanage, Felix believes his parents will come and get him as soon as they sort out their 'troubles'.
As soon as I started reading 'Once' I became immediately hooked onto the series of Morris Gleitzmans books. The main characters 10 year old Felix and Zelda are to two kids in the middle of a Nazi raid, Felix's main focus is to protect Zelda.
I first read this book because i have a r More...
As soon as I started reading 'Once' I became immediately hooked onto the series of Morris Gleitzmans books. The main characters 10 year old Felix and Zelda are to two kids in the middle of a Nazi raid, Felix's main focus is to protect Zelda.
I first read this book because i have a r More...
Sep 12, 2011
Karolina
rated it:
Once, by M. Gleitzman, is a book set during World War Two in Poland. It tells the story of a young Jewish boy escaping a catholic orphanage; it’s truly moving, engaging and heart-warming. Both boys and girls can sympathise with the protagonist of the story. They think how they would feel in similar circumstances - being left alone without parents and facing the reality of war on their own. The book introduces the topic of war, problems and suffering during it. It is written in simple language
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Feb 16, 2011
Liz
rated it: 
I was uncomfortable with the protagonist's view of the holocaust. I appreciated the self-denial aspect, but I also thought a child of that age group would've been more intelligent. The failure to comprehend (or admit comprehension) carried on far too long in my view.
I know the rest of the world adored this book. It is well-written and has some quirky, everyday touches viz. the way Spielberg placed the red jacket in his largely B&W film, "Schindler's List".
But quite frankly More...
I know the rest of the world adored this book. It is well-written and has some quirky, everyday touches viz. the way Spielberg placed the red jacket in his largely B&W film, "Schindler's List".
But quite frankly More...
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Apr 10, 2011
Ruth
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Felix's naivety is almost unbelievable at times. But then you think of the trauma a kid must go through, and how he was VERY misinformed by his parents- add that up with the number of deaths he sees, and you can sorta understand what the author was getting at. So here are some things I've learned from reading Holocaust books:
1. Being a Jew must suck. They got chased out of Israel by the Romans, which was when the fled to Europe, which was where many perished at the hands of the Nazis, More...
1. Being a Jew must suck. They got chased out of Israel by the Romans, which was when the fled to Europe, which was where many perished at the hands of the Nazis, More...
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Mar 18, 2011
Val
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This was a very sad but dramatic book. The main character is so naive, and I think that is what makes it work. He is a 10 year old growing up during WWII. His parents have abandoned him at an orphanage so that he will have a chance of surviving because he is Jewish. He thinks the Nazis are mad about Jewish books. He also doesn't realize that is the reason his parents left him, almost 4 years ago. He go out in search of them, because he honestly thinks he can help them. There are so many things h
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Jul 02, 2011
Caren
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This is a slender book, and is not difficult to read, but is in the YA section of our library, probably due to the unsettling content. This is a holocaust story with all the attendant horrors of the time. Felix, the young Jewish boy, has been placed by his parents in a Catholic orphanage. He keeps the secret that his parents are not really dead (or, at least, he believes they are not). Finally, after being disappointed that they have not returned for him, he sets out to find them. Along the way,
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Apr 28, 2011
Jena
rated it:
I wanted to like this book more than I actually did.
The main character, Felix, is completely in his own world. He has NO idea about the war that is currently going on and the holocaust that is taking place. He's convinced that his parents that left him at an orphanage for three years are somewhere, and that the Jewish people are being prosecuted for "the books."
The very biased narration starts to get to you after a while. Felix is just so clueless, and it b More...
The main character, Felix, is completely in his own world. He has NO idea about the war that is currently going on and the holocaust that is taking place. He's convinced that his parents that left him at an orphanage for three years are somewhere, and that the Jewish people are being prosecuted for "the books."
The very biased narration starts to get to you after a while. Felix is just so clueless, and it b More...
Jan 20, 2011
Amy
rated it:
I guess when you pick up a book about World War II you have to expect a certain amount brutality, but this one was clearly more directed toward a younger audience than most that I have come across, and perhaps that is what was startling to me about it. Because of that, if you were to have your child read this book I would encourage reading it with them, and having discussions about some of the scenes in the book, because aside from the brutality of a few moments I think some of it might be conf
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