[Once #4] After

After the Nazis took my parents I was scared After they killed my best friend I was angry After they ruined my thirteenth birthday I was determined To get to the forest To join forces with Gabriek and Yuli To be a family To defeat the Nazis after all

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One of the reasons this humane and carefully crafted book is so readable is that the author celebrates ordinariness and childishness even as he chronicles terrible cruelty. But prepare for shock and tears. -- Nicolette Jones (on Then, children's book of the week) Sunday Times Haunting ... dangerous and desperate, but also full of courage and hope. Guardian on Once [Morris Gleitzman] has accomplished something extraordinary. Meg Rosoff Extraordinary ... one of the finest children's novels written in the last 25 years ... Narrative at its gripping best Sydney Morning Herald

Morris Gleitzman was born in Lincolnshire and moved to Australia in his teens. He worked as a paperboy, a shelf-stacker, a frozen chicken de-froster, an assistant to a fashion designer and more, before taking a degree in Professional Writing at Canberra College and becoming a writer. He has written for TV, stage, newspapers and magazines but is best known for his hugely successful children's books including Two Weeks with the Queen, Bumface, Once and Then.