Now

Morris Gleitzman (author)

Mary-Anne Fahey (reader)

Bolinda Audiobooks, 2010: 3CDs

ISBN: 9781742339351 9+

Genres: audio, realistic fiction

Issues: family, survivor's guilt, bullying

The final book in his trilogy about Felix, a Polish escapee from the Nazis, Now gives the reader/listener insight into what it is like to survive such a horror when so many others don't.

Zelda adores her 80 year old grandfather and has made very special plans for his birthday, finding him the one book that he is missing from a particular series. A sensitive child, whose parents are working with Medicins Sans Frontiers in Africa, Zelda was named after Felix's long-dead friend.

Concerned about Felix's sadness and desperate to offer encouragement and comfort, Zelda gets herself into all sorts of problematic situations as a result, providing comical interludes and a bit of action and drama in what might otherwise have been a slow story. Gleitzman's skill as a writer is demonstrated in his ability to infuse a serious theme - bullying and surviving trauma - with humour and adventure. While modern Zelda's naivety seems unlikely in the Yr6 child she's supposed to be, the story still works and, while entertaining in its own right, will provide much food for thought and discussion if used as a class novel.

Mary-Anne Fahey reads well, although with limited use of voices for different characters. Her projection of Zelda, the narrator and main character, is excellent, infusing her with the love, enthusiasm, curiosity, courage and uncertainties of a child trying to understand her grandfather's past and its effect on his current state of mind. Highly recommended.