Once

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Once

Audio CD(MP3 on CD - Unabridged)

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Audio CD(MP3 on CD - Unabridged)
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Overview

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 toothache laugh.

My name is Felix.

This is my story.

Everybody deserves to have something good in their life.

At least once.

"Gleitzman’s reading is precise and lovely, often delivered in an understated whisper, emphasizing the intensity of the story and the author’s skill as a consummate storyteller. Klezmer music punctuates the chapters. Once is very much a story about storytelling memory. Seldom does a story come along so powerful in its simplicity." —AudioFile magazine

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781486219629
Publisher:	Bolinda Audio
Publication date:	09/16/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	12 - 14 Years

About the Author

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

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Like The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (rev. 9/06), this Holocaust parable plays its main character’s naiveté against readers’ likely knowledge of the historical realities, but here the juxtaposition is believable and not at all precious; like The Book Thief (rev. 3/06), the novel extols the power of storytelling in the face of tragedy, but Once pits Felix’s stories against even deeper ugliness. ... Gleitzman manages to find a grain of hope in the unresolved (and likely dire) conclusion, but this is the rare Holocaust book for young readers that doesn’t alleviate its dark themes with a comforting ending.”—The Horn Book, Starred Review

“This gripping novel will make readers want to find out more”—Booklist

Reading Group Guide

Discussion Questions:
Chapter 1 (p. 1)
"Once I was living in an orphanage in the mountains and I shouldn't have been and I

almost caused a riot."
1. Describe your first impressions of Felix, Mother Minka and one other character
introduced in the opening chapter (consider the traits they appear to possess and
your response to meeting them).
2. What is the significance of the carrot and what are Felix's plans for it?
Chapter 2 (p. 9)
"Once I stayed awake all night, waiting for Mom and Dad to arrive."
1. What memories and physical evidence does Felix have of his parent? What beliefs
does Felix have of his parents? What beliefs does Felix hold about what
happened?
2. Explain the importance of Felix's notebook. Identify 4 things this notebook
symbolizes.
Chapter 3 (p.17)
"Once I saw a customer, years ago, damaging books in Mom and Dad's shop. Tearing

pages out. Screwing them up. Shouting things I couldn't understand."
1. Identify two things that unsettle Felix and explain how his thinking starts to
change.
2. Felix has plans to help Mom and Dad. What are they and what motivates him to
take action?
Chapter 4 (p. 27)
"Once I escaped from an orphanage in the mountains and I didn't have to do any of the

things you do in escape stories."
1. List some of the reasons Felix considers himself "lucky" (p.30)? List things you
think he could complain about.
2. What indications are there -recognized or missed by Felix- that something is
terribly wrong? What explanations does Felix come up with to make sense of
things?
Chapter 5 (p. 38)
"Once I walked all night and all the next day except for short sleep in a forest and all

night again and then I was home."
1. Contrast Felix's dreams with the reality of what he discovers when he makes it
home.
2. Describe the range of emotions he experiences. Analyze emotions he observes in
other people encountered at this point in the story. How would you classify them
Chapter 6 (p.49)
"Once I walked as fast as I could towards the city to find Mom and Dad and I didn't let

anything stop me. Not until the fire."
1. What changes have taken place in Felix (e.g. more cautious, fearful of Nazis) and
how do they influence his actions
2. How does Felix control his anxiety and make use of his story telling ability?
Chapter 7 (p. 57)
"Once I woke up and I was at home in bed. Dad was reading me a story about a boy who

got left in an orphanage. Mom came in with some carrot soup. They both promised they'd

never leave me anywhere. We hugged and hugged."
1. What is the significance of the following: the armbands? Felix's predictions about
the future?
2. How does Felix answer his own questions- "Why would the Nazis make people
suffer like this just for the sake of some books? (p.64) Why is this the turning
point?
Chapter 8 (p. 66)
"Once I spent about 6 hours telling stories to Zelda, to keep her spirits up, to keep my

spirits up, to keep our legs moving as we trudge through the rain towards the city."
1. Why does Felix go from 6 hours of story telling to keeping Zelda's spirits up, to
the point where he suddenly hasn't got any more stories" (pg 73)
2. Describe the toll such a journey takes on Felix and Zelda - physically and
emotionally. How is it they manage to survive?
Chapter 9 (p.74)
"Once I lay in the street in tears, because the Nazis are everywhere and no grownups can

protect kids from them, not Mom and Dad, not Mother Minka, not Father Ludwik, Not

God, not Jesus, not the Virgin Mary, not the Pope, not Adolf Hitler."
1. Explain what Barney is doing. What sort of person do you think he is? What does
he represent?
2. What impact does the realization that no-one can protect the children have on
Felix? How does this affect his belief in the power of stories?"
Chapter 10 (p. 83)
"Once I was living in a cellar in a Nazi city with seven other kids when I shouldn't have

been."
1. Use an example of Felix's behavior or "self-talk" to illustrate his unusual degree of
maturity and self-awareness. Explain your reasoning.
2. What story "saved his life" and what connections has he finally made?
Chapter 11 (p. 90)
"Once I escaped from an underground hiding place by telling a story. It was a bit

exaggerated. It was a bit fanciful. It was my imagination getting a big carried away."
1. What lengths does Felix go to when trying to 'escape'? How does Barney handle
it?
2. What does Felix discover about Barney and how does Barney enlist Felix's help?
Chapter 12 (p. 102)
"Once a dentist stopped me from asking a Nazi officer about my parents and I was really

mad at him."
1. Why did Barney stop Felix from asking about his parents? Why do he and Felix
decide that Zelda needs to know the truth?
2. Describe the range of reactions the children are showing as result of the traumas
each has suffered. How do you feel about the stories shared by the children?
Chapter 13 (p. 111)
"Once I told Zelda a story that made her cry, so I lay on her sack with her for hours and

hours until she fell asleep."
1. Analyze Barney's gesture of giving Felix new boots. What does he mean by what
he says (p.112) to Felix? What other "good things" does Felix seem to think he's
got and what can you see (e.g. his hope and optimism etc) in him that is good?
2. Felix makes a terrible discovery in the chapter and Barney is forced to tell hi
some awful truths about what is going on. What is Felix torn between as he tries
to take it all in?
Chapter 14 (p.121)
"Once I loved stories and now I hate them."
1. Describe Felix's state of mind as this chapter opens. Describe your own feelings
as you read about his close shaves and what he discovers upon returning to his
hideout.
2. The importance of books is emphasized in this chapter. Felix's favorite gets him
into terrible danger but other books "save" him. What do books symbolize and
mean for Felix?
Chapter 15 (p. 132)
"Once the Nazis found our cellar. They dragged us all out and made us walk through the

ghetto while they pointed guns at us."
1. Barney and Zelda wouldn't go. Why not? Think of three more reasons.
2. What is important to Felix as they head to the railway station? What is important
to the others as they are tossed aboard the train?
Chapter 16 (p.141)
"Once I went on my first train journey, but I wouldn't call it exciting. I'd call it painful

and miserable."
1. Once again, a book becomes a "savior" of sorts. Explain how. What is the
significance of the fact that Felix is willing to use- and virtually lose- his
notebook?
2. What choice and possible outcomes does the hole in the carriage create for the
people inside?
Chapter 17 (p. 149)
"Once I lay in a field somewhere in Poland, not sure if I am alive or dead."
1. Felix feels fortunate -However my story turns out, I'll never forget how lucky I
am" (pg. 150). What is your explanation of this?
2. Knowing Felix as you do by the end of the novel, make a prediction of how you
think his story might continue to unfold or end.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

Tension builds swiftly in this wrenching tale as Felix, a preteen Polish Jew, narrates his experience of Holocaust atrocities, framed by a search for his parents that begins when he escapes from a Catholic orphanage. A natural storyteller, Felix begins each chapter with a formulaic prelude: “Once I was living in a cellar in a Nazi city with seven other children,” before chronicling events in which his narrative gifts provide comfort and courage to himself and others in increasingly bleak circumstances. After finding his home occupied by hostile neighbors, Felix witnesses pointless murders on a forced march. Gleitzman (Toad Rage) allows readers to draw conclusions before Felix does (he thinks a book burning is being conducted by “professional librarians in professional librarian armbands”), making poignant Felix's gradual loss of innocence when he realizes that Hitler is not a protector but “the boss of the Nazis,” and when he finally accepts his parents' deaths. The humorous dimension of Felix's narration provides welcome relief, while courageous acts of kindness by Catholic nuns, a German neighbor, and a Jewish dentist lend this tragedy universality. Ages 12-up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

When his Jewish parents place young Felix in an orphanage in war-torn Poland, they tell him that they must leave to fix their book business. Felix knows they will return. Curiously, one morning men in dark suits storm the orphanage and start burning books-these must be the people his parents have fled from. Others call these men Nazis; Felix doesn't understand. Determined to be reunited with his family and to save more books from being burned, Felix runs away. But during his travels he sees even more horrors: People are beaten, starved and shot. All because of books? Felix's misconceptions are heartbreaking, and readers will wince as he slowly and painfully gets closer to the truth. Packed with plenty of sadness, Felix's story is also touched with hope. He meets a kind-hearted man, loosely based on the real-life Janusz Korczak. A resonant shot to the heart-Gleitzman delivers a sharp sense of what it must have been like to be a child during the Holocaust, forced to grow up far too quickly. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews

“Like The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (rev. 9/06), this Holocaust parable plays its main character’s naiveté against readers’ likely knowledge of the historical realities, but here the juxtaposition is believable and not at all precious; like The Book Thief (rev. 3/06), the novel extols the power of storytelling in the face of tragedy, but Once pits Felix’s stories against even deeper ugliness. ... Gleitzman manages to find a grain of hope in the unresolved (and likely dire) conclusion, but this is the rare Holocaust book for young readers that doesn’t alleviate its dark themes with a comforting ending.”—The Horn Book, Starred Review
“This gripping novel will make readers want to find out more”—Booklist

From the Publisher

After three years and eight months in an orphanage in the mountains, Felix finds a whole carrot in his soup—an extreme rarity. Believing the carrot is a message from his parents, he embarks on a journey through Nazi-occupied Poland to his former home. Unfortunately Felix has not been educated about the Nazi sentiment toward people of Jewish descent, and when he sees the Nazis burning books, he assumes their hatred is directed at booksellers. When he finally arrives in his hometown, he learns that everything has changed and a new family is living in his house. A courageous man named Barney appears to rescue Felix and brings him to a cellar to hide with other children. Barney is willing to sacrifice his safety, yet he cannot save the children from the trains that will carry them to the camps. It is not until the middle of the book that Felix begins to realize the Nazis do not hate Jewish books but Jewish people. Felix's naivete will likely remind readers of the narrator of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by Boyne (David Fickling Books/Random House, 2006/VOYA December 2006); despite the similarities, the first-person narrative is distinct, and Felix's journey will be a uniquely moving one for readers. The son of booksellers, Felix reveals his joy for storytelling in the way he crafts a beautiful narrative despite the gruesomeness of his surroundings. Even in the end, he maintains that he has been lucky for all the moments of delight he has felt, if only once. Reviewer: Amy Wyckoff

VOYA - Amy Wyckoff

Although this is the story of a younger child, young teenagers will be captivated by Felix, a young Jewish boy growing up in a world he cannot understand. Each chapter begins with "Once," as Felix remembers happier times that he no longer experiences. As his story progresses, the memories shift closer to his current experiences. Felix runs away from an orphanage, thinking he will be able to return to his home and find his parents. But the new residents chase him from his home, and he is left alone. Felix is surrounded by death and destruction as he encounters violence and death all around him. At one farm, he finds a young girl alive in a scene of brutal death and begins to care for her. He helps her cope in the same way he copes himself, by making up stories and creating alternate realities. Readers will be able to see what is really happening to Felix and the other Jewish children long before the characters in the book. This provides readers a way to understand, on some level, what is unimaginable. The final words from the author ground the story in a tragic reality. Reviewer: Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger

Children's Literature - Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger

Gr 6–9—Felix lives in Poland in 1942, and reading is his survival mechanism. Now almost 10, he was sent to a Catholic orphanage three years and eight months earlier by his Jewish bookstore-owning parents, and he's convinced himself that the sole reason he remains in hiding is because Nazis hate books. He's a natural storyteller, and when he finds a full carrot in what is typically a woefully thin bowl of soup, he fantasizes that it's a sign from his parents that they're finally on their way to take him home. When the orphanage is visited by surly Nazis instead of joyous parents, Felix escapes with only his cherished notebook full of his stories into the nearby countryside, still hoping for a family reunion. He soon discovers a burning home with two slain adults in the yard and their young daughter bruised but still alive. He takes Zelda on his journey, shielding her from the reality of her parents' deaths in much the same way he's been comforting himself, by inventing alternative realities. But, as he encounters the escalating ugliness of the death marches that are emptying his old neighborhood, now a ghetto, Felix becomes increasingly conflicted about the need to imagine a hopeful order and the need to confront brutal reality head-on. An easy first-person narrative in terms of reading level—and a good choice as a read-aloud—this Holocaust story also taps gut-punching power by contrasting the way in which children would like to imagine their world with the tragic way that life sometimes unfolds.—Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI

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