Now

By Morris Gleitzman

Set in the current day, this is the final book in Morris Gleitzman's series that began with Once, continued with Then and is . . . Now.

Felix is a grandfather. He has achieved much in his life and is widely admired in the community. He has mostly buried the painful memories of his childhood, but they resurface when his granddaughter Zelda comes to stay with him. Together they face a cataclysmic event armed only with their with gusto and love—an event that helps them achieve salvation from the past, but also brings the possibility of destruction.

Now is one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Children's Books of 2012

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Jun 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9780805097139

Morris Gleitzman

Morris Gleitzman has been a frozen-chicken defroster, fashion industry trainee, department-store Santa, sugar-mill employee, and screenwriter, among other things. Now he's one of Australia's best loved children's book authors. His books have been published all over the world. He is the author of Once, Then, and Now.

Book preview

Now, at last.

It’s arrived.

I can see it on the post office shelf.

Good on you, Australia Post, and your very kind pickup counter that stores parcels instead of delivering them to grandfathers and spoiling their birthday surprises.

That one there, I say to the man at the counter. The one with my name on it.

I show him my homework exercise book to prove I’m me.

Hmmm, says the man. Zelda. Nice name, that. Daringly exotic and a bit unusual.

Actually, it belongs to someone else, I say. I got it secondhand.

I know the feeling, says the man.

He points to his name tag, which says ELVIS.

We give each other sympathetic looks. Elvis hands me the parcel.

There you go, secondhand Zelda, he says. Hope it’s something good.

It’s a present for my grandfather, I say. He will be eighty tomorrow.

Elvis says something about how he wishes he was eighty so he could retire. I sympathize with him, but I’m not completely listening. At last I’m holding Felix’s present, and I can’t wait to give it to him. I can’t wait for his big grin when he sees what it is.

Oops, I didn’t mean to make an excited noise in the post office.

Calm down, Zelda, you’re not a squeaky toy.

I thank Elvis and head for the door.

My phone beeps in my school bag. I know who it is without even looking.

Poor Felix. He gets worried if I’m late home from school. He’s not used to being my substitute parent.

I text him back.

on my way see ya soon

I hug his present to my chest and hurry out of the post office. If I run fast and don’t faint in this heat or trip over and fall into any ditches, I can be home in fifteen minutes.

But I don’t get far.

Hey, shorty, says an unfriendly voice. Where’s the fire?

Three girls are blocking the street. They’re older than me, thirteen or fourteen. Their uniforms are creased like they get into lots of fights and never do any ironing. The toughest-looking one’s got a badge on her school bag that says CARMODY’S PEST REMOVAL.

She’s looking at me like I’m the pest.

I don’t know why. I’ve never met these girls before.

Escape plans flash through my head.

I could climb up the mobile phone tower on top of the post office, or I could dash round the back of the video store and through the fence and hide in the forest, or I could run into the bank and get a personal loan and buy a ticket to Africa on a flight that leaves in the next two or three seconds.

No, I couldn’t.

So, says the pest-removal girl. Dr. Zelda, I presume?

I try to work out what she means. And how she knows my name.

Adults are walking past, not even looking at us. Don’t they realize that when three older kids are standing this close to a younger kid, it’s not a social event?

Hope we’re not keeping you from a big medical emergency, Dr. Zelda, says the pest-removal girl.

Oh, okay. I get what she’s on about. And it’s my fault. A few days ago in class, when I was the new kid, Ms. Canny asked me to tell everyone about my family. I told them about my parents being devoted doctors in Africa and my grandfather being a retired brilliant surgeon.

I shouldn’t have said brilliant. It’s true, Felix is very brilliant, but it sounds like boasting. I should have said quite good or average.

I’m on my way home, I say to the girl. It’s not a medical emergency.

Yes it is, says one of the other girls. She points to the pest-removal girl. Tonya needs medical attention. She’s swallowed her gum.

I smile to show them I know that’s a joke.

They don’t smile back.

Come on, says Tonya. Cure me.

Lots of other kids walking home from school are stopping and staring now.

Or is that stuff all lies? says Tonya. About your family being Australia’s top medical geniuses.

I never said that, I reply.

My little brother’s in your class, and he reckons you did, says Tonya. Is that why you had to leave your last school, Dr. Zelda? Cause you make up stories?

I don’t know who her brother is, but he’s wrong. He’s also lucky. I wish I had an older sister. Then she could help me explain to these three bullies the real reason I had to change schools.

More kids are gathering. Tonya grins.

Dr. Zelda’s new in town, she says to them. We’re all very excited. She’s a medical genius. She can cure zits and bed wetting and do heart transplants.

I try to leave.

Tonya’s bully friends drag me back.

Not so fast, shorty, says Tonya. What have you got there?

I hold on to the parcel as tightly as I can. I might not be the biggest or toughest person in the world, but when I’m defending a precious birthday present, I can be very determined.

None of your business, I say.

Tonya prods the parcel.

You look nerdy, so it’s probably a textbook, she says. "Let me guess. Boasting for Dummies."

A couple of kids snigger.

It’s for my grandfather, I say. If you harm it, I’ll tell the police you damaged the property of a senior citizen.

Tonya’s face goes a bit uncertain. I should get away while I can, but I don’t.

I’ll tell the local paper as well, I say. It’ll be front-page news, an eighty-year-old man having his birthday gift vandalized. And when I tell them who did it, your photos’ll be on the front page too.

I stop, out of breath. I’m taking a risk, because I’m not sure if there is a local paper around here.

Tonya glances at the other kids. Some are looking uncomfortable. A few are moving away.

What a storyteller, says Tonya. Spellbinding. And mesmerizing. I’m totally entranced. No I’m not.

She grabs the parcel and yanks it out of my hands.

Give it back, I say, lunging at her.

Make me, says Tonya.

She ducks away and pushes past the kids and dances down the street. Her two friends go with her.

I run after them.

I know what I should be doing. I should be ringing the police.

But I haven’t got time for phone calls.

Inside that parcel is something very rare and precious, and I think it’s going to make Felix very happy, and I want it back now.

"Now, I say. Give me that parcel back now."

Tonya has stopped on the riverbank. She’s standing under the trees, panting.

I’m panting too. So are the other kids who’ve followed us. Nobody can run far in this heat, not with school bags, not even big kids.

Zelda the storyteller, sneers Tonya. Trying to impress everyone at her new school by boasting about her family. Pathetic.

Give it back, I say.

Only if you admit you’re a liar, says Tonya loudly so the other kids can hear. You can have your dumb granddad’s dumb present back if you say you’re a liar.

I won’t say it because I’m not.

I have an idea. I take out my phone and find the text Mum sent me a couple of days ago. The one about how the weather in Darfur is even hotter than here in Australia.

I take a step toward Tonya, holding out the phone.

This is from Africa, I say. From the clinic where my parents are working. Helping wounded children. They volunteered to do it. Nobody made them.

One of Tonya’s bully friends grabs the phone and peers at it.

Could be true, she says to Tonya. If she was my kid, I’d run away to Africa.

I want to tell her that Mum and Dad didn’t run away. They’re so kind and compassionate and caring, they couldn’t help going. But I don’t say anything in case it sounds like more boasting.

Tonya is looking around. She sees she hasn’t got much audience left. She raises her hand, and for an awful moment I think she’s going to chuck Felix’s present into the river.

But she doesn’t, probably because in this heat there isn’t any water.

She throws the parcel down near my feet.

Before I can pick it up, one of Tonya’s bully friends grabs me round the neck. For the millionth time in my life, I wish I had a big sister. But I haven’t. I don’t blame Mum and Dad. They’re too busy for more kids.

Our turn, the bully girl says to Tonya.

For a moment, Tonya looks like she’s going to tell them to leave me alone. Then she just shrugs.

The girl tightens her grip and hisses in my ear.

We want more proof, she says. If your grampy-pamps is a medical genius, prove it.

I don’t know what to say. Felix is a medical genius, but how can you prove something like that with your head in someone’s armpit? It’s not like I can snap my fingers and one of Felix’s ex-patients will stroll up and show them the amazing job Felix did on his bladder.

I need time to think, so I try to keep the girls talking.

For a start, I say to them, his name isn’t Grampy-pamps.

I’m about to tell them his name isn’t Grandpa either, or Granddad. When Felix was a kid hiding from the Nazi soldiers in World War II he had to use a fake name, and now he prefers people use his actual name whenever

Reviews for Now

[sparkleponies · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Felix, a Holocaust survivor, is now 80 years old. With the help of Zelda, his grand daughter, Felix confronts some very sensitive memories of the past. This story is poignant and heart-wrenching. The transparency of their relationship was very sweet.

[stba_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Felix is now a retired doctor and grandfather in the final book of this award-winning trilogy (Once, and Then, Honor Books in 2011 and 2012, respectively). The free verse is narrated by his granddaughter, Zelda, who deals with the absence of working parents, bullying, and raging fires in Australia.

[mrssewell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I was more involved with the first two novels I think Gleitzman has done well to relate the past to the present in this novel. The destruction of the Victorian bushfires in 2009 was a relevant context in which to explore the conclusion of the story of Felix and Zelda. I am glad to have finally read it and definitely recommend it to others who have read Once and Then.

[cbl_tn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The third book in Felix’s story finds Felix a retired doctor in Australia providing a home for his 11-year-old granddaughter. Zelda is named for Felix’s childhood friend who was his companion in hiding from the Nazis. Granddaughter Zelda is being bullied by older girls at her new school, but she is reluctant to confide in her grandfather. When disaster strikes, their shared danger and their love for each other bring grandfather and granddaughter even closer together.

Readers learn that Felix still has a caring nature, which he expressed through a successful career as a pediatric surgeon. He saved the lives of hundreds of children during his career. I just wish readers were told more about how Felix got from German-occupied Poland to caring for a grandchild. Who did he marry? How did he meet her? What kind of relationship does he have with his child? Originally this book was to have concluded a trilogy, but it seems that Felix had more to say and Gleitzman has obliged him.

[skstiles612 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a unique turn in the book series. In this book Felix is an old man with a granddaughter named Zelda. She is named after the young girl Felix tried to save and who was brutal murdered by the Nazis. In this book Felix lives in Australia. His granddaughter loves her grandfather but questions some of the things he does. She doesn’t understand that a part of him is still living in and dealing with a traumatic past. Like her grandfather’s past, Zelda has a bully problem. His pasts experiences and memories help them both. When a brush fire breaks out a lot is lost, while a lot is gained. I found two interesting things about this fire. One was that it was based on an actual fire that occurred in 2009 and the second was that at the time of this post Australia is going through another traumatic brush fire. This is the third book in this series. At one point the author had planned to make this the end of a trilogy. As we all know, when our characters are not finished telling their story they must be heard. Because of that, there are three more books in this series. Once again I will say that this is a must read series

[AlsGuime?⌛ · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Third installment. A jump in time. Now Félix is not the 10-year-old boy trying to survive the Nazis. He is 80 years old. He is a retired doctor and lives in Australia. His 11-year-old granddaughter Zelda, who greatly admires her grandfather, narrates the story with a childlike and innocent language. Zelda knows she is named after someone who was very special to Félix during the Holocaust, and at times she wants to resemble her, although she acknowledges that fighting every day for survival when you were killed for nothing is such bravery that it has no comparison with any situation in her life, no matter how complicated she could imagine it. (Translated from Spanish)

[heatherlinc · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book was a big disappointment after 'Once' and 'Then'. Whilst the naive, innocent voice of ten year old Felix was beautiful, I found the similar voice of Zelda, 60 years later, absolutely irritating. Having been a primary school teacher for over 20 years, I thought her voice was an insult to all Grade 6 girls who are far more savvy and sophisticated than the girl portrayed in this book. Zelda sounds much, much younger especially concerning the relationship she has with her dog, Jumble. For example: 'I give Jumble another big hug. "Thanks," I say. He's the best sister I've ever had.' ((p. 78). Please, Mr Gleitzman get real!

[smg2dmurdoch · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Pretty boring.