Once by Morris Gleitzman

Once by Morris Gleitzman

Once by Morris Gleitzman, is a children’s novel where the field is set within the holocaust in Germany. ‘Once’ is touching and deeply moving as the book is written in first person from the perspective of a Jewish boy, Felix, who is sheltered by the horror of the Nazi’s.  Felix escapes his orphanage to find his parents but encounters dangerous complications with the Nazis along the way. Felix’s innocents often have him mistaking horrific situations such as being shot at, as mistakes or accidents.

Throughout the book, Fleix refers to Hitler as a god as that’s what he has been taught to do. Within the coda before the climax, Felix goes through his journey and discovers what Hitler’s been doing. As a result Felix stops praying to Hitler and starts to understand what’s happening in his country as he’s learnt from his experiences.

After a series of complications and then ending of the book being the climax, the reader is left guessing the resolution. As Felix, and his friend Zelda, are on a train on their way to the concentration camps they are able to kick open the train and jump into the field risking being shot at by the Nazis. This is where the reader is left with a cliff hanger and left guessing the resolution.

The book’s ideologies are a good teaching tool for students learning about the holocaust and what the Nazis did under Hitler’s orders. ‘Once’ is an amazingly powerful and intense recount of what Jewish people would have felt and experienced when the Nazis were in power. This ‘deep literacy’ is an emotionally moving story and leaves the reader in an emotional inner world.