This novel provides a compelling insight into the realities of the Holocaust in a way that allows Key Stage 3 readers to access these difficult issues. The strong first-person narrative creates a contemporary and accessible voice with which pupils will be able to empathise.

Felix can’t stop wondering what has happened to his parents. He’s been living in an orphanage in the mountains for over three years now, and they still haven’t come to get him. When men arrive one day and start burning the orphanage’s books, Felix is upset and can’t understand what is happening.

But this is Poland in 1942 and the men are Nazis, come to burn Jewish books. Fearing for his Jewish bookseller parents, Felix escapes and embarks on a dangerous mission across Nazi-occupied Poland, determined to warn his parents about what is going on.

A remarkable and powerful novel from one of the most popular children’s authors.

“Gleitzman is a highly skilled comic author; this story proves he can write tragedy as well.”

The Independent