Then by Morris Gleitzman

Then Reviews

• 
  PorshaJo

  Rating is a 4.5
  
  ONCE I read a book about a boy named Felix. He was a young child living during the terror of the Nazis and escaped an orphanage to find his parents. He met a 6 year-old girl named Zelda. They are just trying to survive and find new parents. THEN I picked up the 2nd book in this series to hear more about these two and I am just devastated.
  
  Then picks up immediately where the first book, Once, ends. Each chapter in each book begins with the one word title of the book. When I say the story picks up immediately at the end of the first book, I mean it. Felix and Zelda jump off a train heading to a death camp at the end of Once, and Then picks up as they fall from the train.
  
  I did not think I would pick up this one so soon after reading Once. But I could not get the story of the two out of my head. I wanted to hear more. The books in this series are for young children but I think it's just too much. Then focuses more on how the two are travelling across Poland trying to find their parents (atleast Felix's) who they believe are at a death camp. Along the way they see and experience some horrible things. I know this is not a true story, but not far from what actually happened to people during this time. They had to deal with Nazis, but also the regular people who would do the most horrible things to them for being Jewish. Turn them over to the Nazis for a very small bit of money and a bottle of booze.
  
  This is a very heartbreaking story. I don't think it's for everyone. Hearing what happens to children (and animals) during this time is just sickening. It's a very short book and quick to read. I am glad I read this one and plan to continue with the rest of the series.
• 
  Ingrid

  Horrific and beautiful at the same time, if that's even possible. What a clever concept to describe the horrors of WWII.
• 
  Rebecca

  *SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ ONCE*
  
  When I say it starts where Once left off, I mean it. I starts literally seconds afterwards and is a nice bridge from the old one. If you have not read Once, you could read this one, although they do ever so often refer to past events. I think it's better if you did though, you have a total understanding of the pain and suffering they went through, and the back story of how they met one another.
  Felix is Jewish, and was sent to an orphanage by his parents so to protect him from being killed. Zelda's parents, although were Nazi loyalists, were shot dead and tried to burn the house down to kill Zelda. However, Felix saved her and she stayed with him.
  
  This is a harrowing, sad, depressing book, that always keep you guessing and wondering. Once was like this but also had comical and happy moments mixed in. Whenever things start to look up for Felix, his whole world gets destroyed all over again. There are twists and turns like a roller coaster and some of the best literature is displayed in this book, it should of won so many more prizes. You never expect anything that happens.
  
  Felix was, once again, a delightful protagonist and I really felt for him, especially latterly. He seems to start having a good time and then, everything is crumbled down. He's a good guy and just wants to protect everyone but himself. I know, the events are not true for just one person in this time, but it makes you really think, through Felix, the horrible, vile times Jewish people had under Nazi rule. Morris Gleitzman makes you think over and over again in your mind, the simple question: Why? WHY? Just, why.
  
  I said in my review for Once that Zelda annoyed me. A lot, especially with her constant 'Don't you know anything?' ERM, NO WE DON'T. Anyway, that lovely line was in this book too, BUT not as much and I actually started really connecting with Zelda too, especially when she became a different person - Violetta (I really like that name actually). Zelda is also only six years-old when Felix is ten. It's strange how she seems so grown up and honestly, I thought she was the same age as Felix until said. It's disgraceful how much she had been through just at that age, and many other real people too.
  
  Once again, Gleitzman has started each chapter with the name of the book and ended it the same way - which is so original. At the end, Felix is suddenly so overcome by emotions that he does something completely out of character and quite frightening. However, once he is reminded of his past, he goes back to his old self again.
  This book is very different to Once. Instead of kind of setting the scene and introducing characters, it focuses more on other aspects of life in Poland at that time. We see rationing, the Hitler Youth, the SS killing squads and many other social and cultural details. I think I preferred this book to the first and definitely enjoyed it more because of this.
  
  This book is very harrowing and makes you feel very uncomfortable frequently. You are constantly on the edge waiting and knowing what may happen. Events happen sometimes so quickly, you don't realise that you've just read around 10 pages. This is worth a read for anyone that read either Once or just loves this period of history. It may be about younger children, but this book is for any age - but warning, you may cry.
  Verdict: A definite read, but I would read Once first before you move onto this. If you didn't like Once, keep going - it's worth it.
  
  I give it 5 out of 5
• 
  Dora Santos Marques

  A minha opinião em vídeo:
  https://youtu.be/XTj7XmGJmxY
  
  A sequela de "Once" e com o mesmo brilhantismo, tanto a nível de escrita, como de história.
  Embora este volume seja mais pesado, o Felix e a Zelda continuam a mostrar a força de duas crianças perdidas numa Polónia, na 2ª guerra mundial.
  
• 
  Ana

  A historia de Felix e Zelda continua... partes tristes, partes cruéis, partes que nos fazem pensar.
• 
  Sally906

  I cried!!
  
  Wow - the cruelty that people can inflict on each other still catches me by surprise. We hear about, and condemn, acts of atrocity today. But stories like these bring home that nothing is new.
  
  
• 
  Krista the Krazy Kataloguer

  The second book in this Holocaust trilogy was just as chilling and horrific as the first book, Once. It picks up exactly where Once left off, with Felix, age 10, and Zelda, age 6, fleeing through the countryside after managing to escape from a Nazi death train. I couldn't read this one all in one sitting; I had to read a few chapters at a time and stop. Just when you think everything may finally be all right for them, something horrible happens. The feeling of tension, of waiting for the other shoe to drop, never leaves from the first page to the last, and surely must have been what it was like to live in Nazi-occupied Poland at that time. The pure, unreasonable, unpredictable evil of the Nazis really stands out here. I hope the third book, Now, will be published in the U.S. soon, so that I can find out if Felix finally survives it all. Despite the gut-wrenching tension, I do highly recommend this for teen readers on up.
• 
  Lisa Vegan

  This is the second book in a trilogy, children’s novels with children characters about the Holocaust. In the first book,
  Once, the first word of each chapter was Once. Here, the first word in each chapter is Then. It works! Book 2 in a trilogy: typically the weakest book, but this book is as strong (and devastating and heartwarming) as is book 1. Packs a huge punch to the gut; for me the punch was completely worth taking. Lovely book. I’ll be reading the 3rd book even though I suspect it will be my least favorite of the 3. Touching, special, horrific, skilled storytelling. Love what the author says in his note at the end of the book, and yes it’s obvious he’s read a lot of books about the Holocaust, and I’m grateful he has a list of those books on his web site. These first two books qualify as a masterpiece. And, I love Felix’s/the narrator’s voice.
• 
  Ettelwen

  “Why do people start wars when they know so many sad things are going to happen?”
• 
  Sam

  *Sniff Sniff* Why?! Why did Morris Gleitzman write such a sad story!! This is the follow on to his first book on the holocaust called “Once”. It continues the story of the young Jewsish boy Felix and his little 6 year old friend Zelda. I can’t really say that I enjoyed the first book or this book because it’s such an emotional topic, but I can say that I liked it because Felix felt very real and his voice was very strong throughout the book. It felt exactly like I was hearing the story straight from a 10 year old boys mouth. I don’t want to give away why it’s so sad but something really horrible happens at the end of the book and it left me stunned, I thought to myself ‘How can this be a book aimed at junior aged children? It’s very graphic and devastating at times’. I know, I know, it’s set in World War two and there wasn’t any happy times during the war until people found out it was over but.... I wasn’t expecting that!! This book is only 182 pages (which translates to only 3 and a half hours of listening) so it’s a very short, so when it ended I was craving to know what happened next, I needed to find out the ending to Felix’s story. So I am interested to see what happens in the next book and whether it will be the end to Felix's story.
  
  Review also on my blog
  http://love-sami13.blogspot.com.au/20...
• 
  Claire (Book Blog Bird)

  This is the follow up to Once, which was a bittersweet, heart warming story. This is a worthy sequel and Felix's narrative is as beautiful as ever. There's more of a dark undercurrent to this story, however, and the ending made me spin the audiobook back and forth a few times to see if I'd heard correctly. Definitely worth reading if you enjoyed the first book and I'm certainly going to carry on with the series.
• 
  Felicity Gibson

  Then and Once, the first two books of a series, tell the powerful story of a boy who grew up at the time of the Holocaust in Poland. I could often sympathize with the protagonist and imagine how tough it was for Jews. I would recommend this series to children in Years 5 and 6, especially if they are learning about the Holocaust.
• 
  MariaWitBook

  If us, the people of Earth will ever do this again…
• 
  ~Bellegirl91~

  "Why do people start wars when they know so many sad things are going to happen? I don't get it?"
  
  Now I want to go and hug my mom so tightly and tell her how much I love her after this book!
  
  
  Oh my gosh this one was so fetching sad and the last 10 or less pages were heartbreaking 😭💔😭💔 I can't stop thinking about it now cause it's just too sad.... 😔😔
  
  
  
  This one picks up literally just seconds after
  what happened at the end of ONCE and from there it actually got so horrifically good that I had the hardest time putting it down. In fact every time I picked THEN up I had the hardest time putting it down and had glad keep going.
  
  
  
  I've read a lot of WWII stories whether it's actual or historical fiction it seems and I have to say felix is someone special. All thr things he had to go through in here, his worries and concerns, his unselfish love for Zelda and the woman who takes him and Zelda, Genia; his loyalty and basically just everything about him is something special.
  
  
  
  Although this was sadder than ONCE, it sure did surpass the imagination of the historical fiction boundaries and it felt like I was right there next to Felix and Zelda and seeing their lives through their eyes.
  
  
  
  Gosh I so want to talk about what happened near the end of 2 big things happening but I don't like to put spoilers in my reviews and I don't want to spoil it in general and it's killing me 😭💔 it was so gut wrenching and tugged the heart strings.
  
  
  
  So overall this book for me didn't sugar coat nothing and yet ONCE & THEN now have so many important meanings that everyone should read these. I finished this in the car ride home from a family reunion with mom and my grandparents (it was an hour or so away) and now I'm wishing i brought book 3 with me. And speaking of "now" which happens to be the title for the next book, NOW I'll be ready to jump in it when I get a chance to!
  
  
  
  If you haven't already.....
  
  PUT THESE ON YOUR TBR LIST! I PROMISE YOU THEY'RE WORTH IT solid 5 ⭐'s!!
• 
  joshua sorensen

  then the narrative device got slightly less annoying
• 
  Banafsheh Serov

  Once and its sequel, Then are harrowing and beautifully told stories of ten year old Felix; a Jewish boy caught in the midst of the Holocaust. Similar to The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas and equally as good, Once and Then are told through the eyes of Felix, illustrating with child like purity the senselessness of war.
  
  Once opens with Felix in a catholic orphanage where his parents had placed him in 1939. Two years later he escapes the orphanage to find the world outside changed dramatically. He suddenly found himself alone and on the run. He met Zelda, whose parents - Nazi sympathisers - were murdered by the polish resistance and the two become unlikely companions.
  
  In Then, we are reunited with Felix and Zelda when they jump off a train destined for a death camp and find themselves in a village occupied by the Nazis. In the climax of the book, Felix's own values are challenged. He has to choose as to whether he allows his pain to turn into hatred towards the Nazi aggressors or stay true to himself.
  
  I read these books when my son brought them home as part of his English text. I am glad there are books illustrating the horrors of the past wrtten for young readers, so the future generation may hopefully not repeat them in the future.
• 
  Sara Jesus

  O segundo volume da história do judeu Félix é mais emocionante do que o primeiro. Neste as lágrimas quase vieram-me aos olhos ao saber do destino de Zelda.
  Compreendemos porque ela odeia tanto os nazis. Ao contrário de Félix, Zelda é cristã. Os seus pais eram nazis. E ela acabou por odiá-los ao descobrir a destruição que aconteceu.
  
  Depois de fugirem do comboio, Félix e Zelda são acolhidos por uma senhora não gosta de judeus mais odeia mais os nazis. Descobriu que eles mataram milhares de crianças judias, Genia ainda detesta mais a corporação nazi. Ela os ajuda e planeia uma vida falsa para as duas crianças.
  
  Felix conhece outro menino judeu que faz com que ele queira matar nazis. Neste livro, o jovem Félix começa a ganhar um imensa raiva dos nazis que roubaram-lhe todo. Mas ele quer proteger ao mesmo tempo Zelda, que se tornou a irmãzinha dele.
  
  "Then"é carregado de mais emoção e demonstra melhor o elo criado entre Félix e Zelda. O fim do livro nos grita injustiça e sofrimento!
• 
  Jessi

  I am simply amazed at how invested I became in this short little story. It is hilarious and heartbreaking simultaneously. I continued to fall in love with Felix and now am terrified for him and can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series.
• 
  Vyapti

  what happened in the end was the most traumatic thing ever 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭and that’s why i don’t know if i should give this book one star or five stars
• 
  Alex Baugh

  Then continues the story of 10 year old Felix begun in Once. When Once ended, Felix and Zelda had just jumped from the cattle car heading to a concentration camp.
  
  Then picks up the story as they flee through a forest. When they emerge from it, the first thing they see is a large pit in the ground full of the bodies of children and Nazis with machine guns standing around it. They flee back into the forest when the Nazis start shooting at them. While hiding, Felix and Zelda decide that the best thing for them to do is to look for kind, new parents to protect them and take care of them.They spend the night in the forest and the next morning a farmer picks them up in his wagon, but they run away when Felix sees he has a paper from the Nazis offering money and vodka in exchange for Jews. They head back into the forest, and just when they think it is OK to leave, a very strong woman grabs hold of them.
  
  The woman takes them to her farm and locks them in her barn. Eventually, she pushes some food into the barn, which Felix and Zelda end up sharing with the pig that lives there. Later, they hear a truck arriving, just as the woman comes into the barn, spreading pepper across the front of it. When the Nazis come in looking for Jews that might be hidden there, their dog starts to sneeze and can’t smell anything. Clearly, the woman has no intention of turning Felix and Zelda over to the Nazis. Still, before they leave, the soldiers stab at the hay where the children are hiding, just in case.
  
  The woman, whose name is Genia, brings the children into the house. She bathes and feed them. But, during his bath, Felix and Genia realize that he is circumcised, and that this could be a real problem, since Nazis always check to see if, as Felix refers to it, a male has a Jewish private part.
  
  Genia then makes up stories about their lives for them to tell people. They pick new names, Wilhelm and Violetta, after their favorite fictional characters, William and Violet Elizabeth, in the William books by Richmal Crompton. Felix has always told Zelda calming stories from William and often prays to Crompton to help them survive.
  
  Felix makes one dangerous enemy, Cyryl, the son of the store owner where they shop, and one semi-friend, Dov, who survived the Nazi massacre that Felix and Zelda saw. Felix also becomes friends with Amon, a reluctant Hitler Youth who is also a big fan of Richmal Crompton.
  
  Zelda is Felix’s biggest problem. She doesn’t seem to remember the danger they are in and continuously does things that could provoke the Nazis, failing to show them the respect they demand. Even declaring herself Jewish out of anger towards her Nazi parents, though Felix wants her to wear her locket with her father’s picture in his uniform, to try and keep her safe. But being safe under Nazi rule is always tentative…
  
  This is one of those books where it is difficult to write about the narrative without spoiling the whole thing for future readers, because everything and everyone is so interconnected with the action. I intentionally hadn’t read much about Then or the third book about Felix, Now, so when I read the ending of this I was very surprised. It really wasn’t what I expected.
  
  Often a sequel fails in satisfying a reader, because the first book was so good. It feels like nothing can measure up to it, but that is not the case here. I was happy to see that Gleitzman was able to recapture Felix as I remember him, allowing growth because of his experiences but still very much the sweet, innocent storytelling 10 year old boy he was in Once. Gleitzman has done this with Zelda, too, who remains the same annoyingly-endearing, smart mouth 6 year old girl of Once, constantly asking ‘Don’t you know anything?’ whenever someone states the obvious.
  
  Gleitzman continues to give us a clear picture of the level of cruelty the Nazis were capable of, the total disregard for human life that was inherent in Hitler’s system of belief, and the deprivations inflicted on people, who were expected to accept them or pay the price. But he also gives us a picture of the kindness human beings are also capable of, and through Amon, Gleitzman reminds us that not everyone who was German and wore a uniform subscribed to what the Nazis were doing.
  
  If you haven’t already read Once, I would highly recommend that you give it a try. If you have and you enjoyed it, Then is a book for you, though I think either one works as a stand alone story. I am looking forward to reading the third and final story of Felix in Gleitzman’s book Now, in which he is now an 80 year old grandfather. Rumor had it that a four might be in the works, so I emailed him and asked if this was so. The answer: Yes, it is, there will be a fourth book. I look forward to that one, too.
  
  This book is recommended for readers age 12 and up.
  This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL
  
• 
  Mariam Salahudeen

  A beautiful yet heartbreaking story told from the eyes of a 10 year old. Its horrifying to read about the events that take place during this time. Its a children's story but so impactful.
• 
  Richie Partington

  16 June 2011 THEN by Morris Gleitzman, Henry Holt, May 2011, 208p., ISBN: 978-0-8050-9027-7
  
  "'That's okay,' says Zelda in a small voice. 'I'm not hungry.
  '"I know she is because I am.
  "I hug her even tighter. Sometimes love from your family can make your tummy not hurt quite so much."
  
  What happens when a group of people is hated because of their ethnic or religious identity? You end up with a Holocaust. Millions of innocent people, including children, who have done nothing beyond having been randomly born into a group, are slaughtered.
  
  It is tragic that well-known figures like Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and Father Charles Coughlin promoted anti-Semitic agendas during the interwar years, helped sway public opinion in America away from early opposition to Hitler's mad schemes. It is similarly horrible, here in the twenty-first century, when a major-party presidential candidate actively promotes hatred and fear of Muslims. It is undoubtedly going to take the extended efforts of millions of educators to undo the spread of ignorance that will now pass from parents to children about how one cannot trust a Muslim; how they are all trying to blow us up.
  
  It is in the best interests of all people that we stand against the hatred and fear of any group of people based upon their ethnic, religious, or racial identity. As educators of young people, we do this in a positive manner through the promotion of multiculturalism. Children grow up more accepting and less likely to wage war upon one another when they come to recognize that children who look, speak, and live in cultures different than their own are still like them and not people to be hated and feared.
  
  While they can be rather tough stories to be reading about, young people must also learn of the horrors that have resulted historically when groups of people have been condemned, based solely upon their ethnic or religious or racial identity. This is essential so that such atrocities are not repeated.
  
  There are points at which THEN is a tough story to be reading. But I am really glad that I did.
  
  THEN, by Morris Gleitzman, is the story of Felix and Zelda, two young children who survive jumping from the window of a train heading through Poland to a Nazi death camp. Narrowly and repeatedly escaping death at the hands of Nazis, they find a home with Genia, a farm woman whose husband has been forced to go to work in Germany for the Nazis. Bleaching their hair and changing their names (to those of Felix's favorite book characters), the children and their new guardian narrowly escape the horrors that regularly befall the Polish community in which they live. That feisty six year-old Zelda (now known as Violetta) is an outspoken speaker-of-truths provides both constant levity and constant danger.
  
  What is most fascinating about THEN is the interaction between the two children and the other children they encounter in the town. These include members of the Hitler Youth Movement and a local gang of Jew-hating youngsters. What might be most wonderful about the story is how a beloved book helps forge understanding between disparate and desperate young people.
  
  Richie Partington, MLIS
  Richie's Picks
  http://richiespicks.com
  [email protected]
  Moderator
  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_...
  Moderator
  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EcolIt/
  
  http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/facult...
  
  
• 
  Bosorka

  Potom nezaostává za Kdysi, v mnohých aspektech je i silnější. Možná i proto, že desetiletý Felix postupem doby, po prožitých zkušenostech začíná ztrácet bezelstnost, naivitu i nevinnost. Svět již pro něj není jen dětsky černobílý, dostává různé odstíny. A Felix tak poznává, že vše má svou lícovou i rubovou stranu. A že to, co vypadá černé, může být jen ušpiněné a pod povrchem je ve skutečnosti bílé. A naopak, že nacíděné ještě nutně neznamená perfektní. Dětskou bezelstnost převzala v tomto díle Felixova milovaná Zelda. Jejich vztah je výjimečný a krásný. Zelda je bezprostřední a prostořeká, nebojácná a skvělá šestiletá holka. Zamilovala jsem si je oba. Když tento příběh čtete, musíte nutně cítit naději. Ale kolikrát se vám nechce věřit tomu, co se v něm děje. Přeci když to vyprávějí děti, nemělo by se stávat nic tak moc zlého, mělo by to dopadat dobře jako v pohádkách. Kontrast dětského pohledu a drsné reality je tu opravdu velice silný. Vrací do skutečného života.
• 
  Diana Gagliardi

  The problem with books like this is that they are TOO good. They are too good at letting you see the craziness of war and the struggle of children who try their best not to be killed. They are too good at showing you what can happen to good people. They are too good at confusing you with all the grays and shadows of morality...
  
  Don't read this book if you don't want to think, and probably cry. I am still stopping and blowing my nose even as I write this. Because I can all too easily see what would happen to my family if such a thing were to ever happen again and I can't see that we would be able to do any better.