You know that feeling when you get a book home from the bookshop and start reading it, and you realise it probably is a children’s book that was shelved in the adult section because the prose is really very childlike. And you read it even though the main character seems to remain in denial about what is going on around him for way too long, and you tell yourself OK, it’s because he’s a child and a child can’t cope with evil on that grand a scale. And you read the whole thing practically in one sitting and it really does turn out to be a good book, and when you finish it you are sitting on a bench on the quay and you are quite glad it’s started to rain because the old couple sat at the other end of the bench hopefully won’t notice there are tears running down your face. Then you stay sitting down for ages watching the boats and thinking about what you’ve read and feeling glad for the times we are living in.

Well that’s how I’m feeling now. ( )

main character Boy
suggest late primary early secondary

This is a book based on the second world war. The experiences of a child who failed to understand what was happening as noone was explaining things to him. In once I loce the use of the carrot as a device for his hope
The mian character is a jewish boy who has been hidden in a catholic orphanage by his parents so as to escape the Natzies. But he has to run away to help his parents, end up right in the middle of everything.
I love the story telling of the main character and the way that it links together his misunderstanding of what is happening arround him and how this slowly leaves him the more that he ses and canot deny.
Read this book ( )

it was a good book but it was really dramatical..... but i still liked it. ( )

once and then is a great conbenation of two great books about a sad and thrilling book ( )