Book+review-Then

= Book Review- Then =

By madelinemc
This book, 'Then' by Morris Gleitzman, is a sequel to the first, ‘Once’. The book is a historical fiction book, set in around 1941 to 1944, in Germany (during World War 2).

There are two main characters- First, there's Felix. A ten year old boy with a passion for books. //Especially// the Richmal Crompton books. His parents owned a bookshop but they dissappeared after leaving Felix to the orphanage. What he values most is his note book. He used this to write stories. The other, is Zelda. A six year old girl whose parents were killed in a fire. Her parents were Nazis but were against killing Jews. Unfortunately, this led to their death. The thing she values most would be her locket- the only thing left from the fire. Both Felix and Zelda goes through a very tough life, but with each other's help, they survive. The problem is, Felix is a Jewish boy. Zelda has dangerous hair,eye and skin colour which makes her look Jewish. They also have no one to look after them- no parents, no relatives and no friends (well, except for each other). The two characters met after Felix ran away from the orphanage. He came across a fire and then, the two met.

In the first book, while running away from the Nazis for their lives, they have made friends and had had good times. But it never lasted long. The Nazis found them again and their friends were sent to the death-camps. Felix and Zelda made a lucky escape and hid in a forest where the train they had just escaped from, was going past. But now they have a new problem: there are Nazi soldiers //everywhere// in the forest//.// They hid in a bush for a while but they were hungry. They seemed to be doomed but saved by an anti-Nazis anti-Jews lady Genia. She took them in and hid them. But the question is, how long will this peace last?

This made me really think about the hardships people went through, especially kids, during the war. I hope nothing like this will happen again just because of some idiotic people decided that there was only one race of people who deserve to live. Just because people look differently from another, doesn't mean they aren't human.

I enjoyed reading this book, mostly because I like reading historical fiction or non-fiction books. I like learning about the past. The only disturbing bit was the killing. I few parts made me cry. Parts like... actually, I won't say. The best bit- the bit when it made me happy the most in the book- was when Felix and Zelda met Genia and they were all happy living with each other. I reckon these kind of books are great to read because it raises awareness that injustice like this is still going on. It gives the message that this sort of thing shouldn't be allowed to happen again. There are still lots of racist people in the world and I think, that they don't //think//. Everyone is equal. Everyone should be able to accept that. I recommend it to people above ten, mostly because it does have sad bits in it.