Once

Author: Gleitzman, Morris

Interest age: from c 9 years

Published on 23 February 2006 by Penguin Random House Children's UK (Puffin) in the United Kingdom as part of 'the Once/Now/Then/After' series.

My name is Felix. This is my story.

Felix has been living in an orphanage for three years and eight months when the men in armbands arrive to burn the books.

Going on the run in search of his parents, Felix soon learns that Poland in 1942 is not a safe place for Jewish boys. But can his gift for storytelling keep him one step ahead of the Nazis and help him find his parents?After all, everybody deserves to have something good in their life at least once.

'Morris Gleitzman has a rare gift for writing very funny stories and an even rarer gift of wrapping very serious stories inside them' - GuardianOnce is the first in a series of novels about Felix and his family. The sequels - Then, After, Soon, Maybe and Now - are also available from Puffin.