Now (Once Series) - Hardcover

Gleitzman, Morris

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805093788 ISBN 13: 9780805093780

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2012

Synopsis

Set in the current day, this is the final book in the series that began with Once, continued with Then and is . . . Now.

Felix is a grandfather. He has achieved much in his life and is widely admired in the community. He has mostly buried the painful memories of his childhood, but they resurface when his granddaughter Zelda comes to stay with him. Together they face a cataclysmic event armed only with their with gusto and love―an event that helps them achieve salvation from the past, but also brings the possibility of destruction.

Now is one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Children's Books of 2012

About this title

About the Author

Morris Gleitzman has been a sugar-mill employee, frozen-chicken defroster, fashion-industry trainee, department-store Santa, and screenwriter, among other things. Now he's one of Australia's best-loved children's book authors, with books published worldwide.

Reviews

Gr 5-9-Jumping ahead 70 years from where Once (2010) and Then (2011, both Holt) left off, this sequel finds Felix, a Holocaust survivor, about to mark his 80th birthday and caring for his adoring 11-year-old granddaughter while her parents are volunteering as doctors in Darfur. The fact that her parents called her Zelda is problematic to both the girl and her grandfather. Named after the 6-year-old girl who Felix-then only 10 himself-rescued from her home after her parents had been slain in 1942, the modern-day child is keenly aware that she is the namesake of a talented, inspirational, and brave individual whom she feels will always be the most important person in her grandfather's life. She feels hopelessly inferior to the departed Zelda, and feels especially lacking in courage since she began having run-ins with bullies at her new school. What his granddaughter does not fully understand is that Felix has his own deeply guarded and painful associations with the name, which is why he always refers to her as "Babushka," instead. So, while both Felix and his granddaughter are clearly thoughtful and capable human beings, they're also both psychologically hamstrung by the memories of the original Zelda. It'll take a regional disaster-a holocaust of a very different kind-for the pair to finally get over the past and begin appreciating the Now. While this book is perfectly understandable as a stand-alone title, it will be best appreciated by readers of the earlier volumes who are invested in the saga and who will find this title a clever and satisfying way of coming full circle.-Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MIα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Edition details

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805093788
• ISBN 13: 9780805093780
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192