If you are only familiar with Gleitzman’s Misery Guts or his other tongue in cheek stories for younger readers, this book will come as a shock. It is a serious, layered, complex and completely engaging story. It is certainly designed for the younger teen reader, though it needs to be understood by parents that some serious topics are under examination, including the terror of a massive firestorm and the harsh reality of its victims.
This is the third in his series of books that touch on the life of Felix, a ten year old boy growing up in Nazi Germany. In Now, Felix is a grandfather, and the story is told by his granddaughter who he is caring for. Part of the drama is in the question of why young Zelda’s parents are not around. As she says at one point “In our family... the parents always leave the kids... I think we should stop it”.
Zelda does her best to cope in a new school, but for some reason an older student Tonya starts to bully her. Things get more and more difficult, but Felix quickly senses what is going on... after all he is an expert in what it is like to live with bullies.
I was in tears by the end of this relatively short novel: Gleitzman shows that he can explore complex “adult” topics of the sort our growing children often encounter, while staying within the confines of the age he chosen to write for. You will want to find out more about the characters, and re-read the tale to savour the details. Suitable for Year Five and up, though parent co-reading would be sensible for those who may not be comfortable with the intense drama in parts of this.
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