Week #3: Once by Morris Gleitzman

I wasn't sure if this book was going to meet my criteria of 2010 or later, since it was first published in Australia in 2005. The inside cover said it was published in the U.S. in 2010, so I thought I'd let it slide.

I knew this was going to be a Holocaust book, but I really had no idea what to expect. I usually don't like historical fiction, but I really liked this book.

It's about a young boy (younger than 10) named Felix who is Jewish. His parents have left him at an orphanage with nuns and he's been there for three or four years, convinced that his parents are going to come back for him. Felix is a story-teller: he has a vivid imagination mixed with a child's naivety, he tells stories to everyone, and what he thinks is logical reasoning to his stories leads him to believe many of them are true. For example, when Felix finds a carrot in his soup, he's convinced that his parents sent it as a sign that they're still alive because carrots are his favorite vegetable. This inspires him to run away and find his parents.

Throughout the story, the reader is exposed to the horrors of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust going on in Poland while witnessing Felix trying to make sense of it. It's depressing. It really is. The dichotomy between his perception and the reality is heart-wrenching.

It's no Night by Elie Wiesel in the sense that it's definitely not as graphic, and it's not based on the author's real encounters. But just as I teared up reading Night, I admit I teared up while reading Once, as Felix took pages out of his beloved notebook of stories he had written and gave them to an old woman on the train car who didn't have any toilet paper. Okay, writing this I can see how you might think it's sort of ridiculous that that part was so emotional, but if you read the book and understand the context, you'll understand.

Parts of Once reminded me of Life is Beautiful, the Italian movie with the father trying to shield his son from a Nazi death camp. I watched that movie in high school, and this book would've been a perfect companion.

Once is short (163 pages), easy to read, and exposes the reader to the horrors of the Holocaust in a way that's appropriate for young adults learning about it for the first time. It gives you a realistic picture of what this time period was like for children, and it's very emotional. It's a Sydney Taylor Honor Award book (Association of Jewish Libraries) and I definitely recommend it.

Themes: horrors of war, survival, coming of age, ethics of lying, book burnings/censorship, morality, human rights
Good for: Social Studies classes learning about the Holocaust, point of view, symbolism
Would interest: boys and girls grades 8-12
My grade: A


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Week 2: Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

This past week I read Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King at night and also listened in the car to Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. I have never done this before and while I didn't mix up the characters, I realized that I just plain don't like being mentally invested in two books at a time. I like one book's characters to consume me and I like to put all my thoughts and analysis toward one book. I learned that if I split my thoughts between two books, I don't end up thinking as deeply about either one.

Anyway, on to the book!

I liked it! I really did, better than any YA books I've read in a while. Don't worry: I'm not going to spoil the ending for those who want to read it.

It's about a girl named Vera whose best friend Charlie just died. She and Charlie were like peanut butter and jelly until a slutty girl, Jenny, messed up their friendship. Although Vera still loved Charlie as he turned down a road no parent would want his/her child to take, the things he did and said made her start to also hate him.

The book travels back and forth between the past and present, as various people (Vera, Charlie, Vera's father, and the pagoda....yes....a building is a narrator at times) narrate different chapters. This way, the reader is invested in each character and grows to respect each in different ways. It's different, and I think it's clever. It takes away the reader's bias and gives all sorts of perspectives.

Vera's relationship with her dad, Ken, plays a huge part in the book and in her character development. He doesn't want her to go down the same road as he did with alcohol, or her mother  who was a local stripper who got pregnant at a young age and left her family to go to Vegas. Vera also wants to escape her so-called destiny of turning out like her mom, but finds herself dating a 23-year old co-worker and turning to alcohol for comfort and coping. The books turns into a coming of age novel as Vera works herself out of the messes she became tangled in and finds a way to make amends with the dead Charlie who has been haunting her since he died.

The book really focuses on Vera's character and how she manages to emerge from the dog crap that's been thrown at her (literally). It keeps the reader engaged by the writing style and by stringing him/her along until the Truth is finally revealed.

A School Library Journal reviewer had commented that the flow-charts Vera's dad made didn't seem to belong, and the way she immediately popped out of her alcoholic tendencies was unrealistic. I disagree and think the charts added to the light writing style and were very amusing; I was even thinking about photocopying the flow chart on "getting over stuff" and using it with problematic students! And the whole drinking thing...just because Vera was drinking quite frequently didn't necessarily mean she had a drinking problem. Call me crazy, but teenagers will be teenagers. The more realistic a book, the more reluctant readers will eat it up. 

Themes: friendship, love and hate, domestic abuse, escaping (problems, family, life, etc.), coming of age, parent-child relationships, destiny
Would interest: reluctant readers (although it's a bit long), boys and girls grades 9-11

Good for teaching: character development, point of view

My grade: A