History - War - Westerns - Holocaust Book Review

Chambers, Aidan. Postcards from No Man’s Land. 2002. Dutton Books: New York.

Genre:
Fiction, Historical Fiction

Themes:
War, Love, Sexuality, Family secrets

Age / Grade Appropriateness:
16 and up/10th Grade and up

Awards:
Printz Award, Carnegie Medal, ALA Best Books for Young Adults,
A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book, ALA Outstanding Books for the College Bound, Booklist Editors’ Choice Award

Censorship Issues:
There were a few censorship issues which included gay, sexuality, war, and teenage pregnancy.

Plot Summary:
This story is mainly about two characters. The first character is a seventeen year old boy named Christopher. He goes to Amsterdam, requested by his grandmother, to attend a ceremony honoring English soldiers that served in Holland. As Christopher is in Amsterdam, he finds out many different things about his grandfather’s past. Along the journey looking for answers, he meets an elderly lady named Geertrui, whom is in the hospital. Geertrui just happens to be Christopher’s grandfather’s girlfriend during the war. Geeertrui also has a baby fathered by Christopher’s grandfather. The story is about a young boy that is finding out many family secrets through a personal journey.

Critique:
This book was defiantly a book that would fit the bill of young adult literature because it was about a teenage boy. It also had many different controversial components, like many young adult books. I did not particular like this book because it did not keep my interest. I was also not interested in the topics that were discusses through out the book. It was very boring to me. I think it lacked an ongoing suspense.

Curriculum Uses (Possible uses in the classroom / school library / public library):
This book could be used in a History classroom that was discussing early times in the war. This book would also be great for anyone that likes to read about war and family secrets. ( )

my favourite Aidan Chambers book.

This engaging story flips between the story of young Jacob and elderly Geertrui.
Jacob is visiting Amsterdam for the first time to commemorate the Battle of Arnhem, and his grandfather who fought and died in World War I. Geertrui is dying in hospital, and telling the story of her experiences during the war, where she met Jacob's grandfather.
There are some pretty heavy ideas here - the shape and nature of love and sexuality, the burden of secrets and the danger of confessions, the effects of euthanasia on the loved ones left behind, the potentially damaging love of parents. But Jacob's very real confusion, his moodiness, and this self conciousness keep the story racing along, it doesn't get bogged down in issues.
I had a few problems - Jacob is so self concious, yet apparently so charismatic that strangers instantly take to him. It's hard to see how he manages to be the loner he sees himself as. And the big family secret is easy to guess, but luckily the books doesn't depend on that suspense to hold your interest.
While not the focus of the book, this is also a deft portrayal of bisexuality and polyamory, where the relationships depend very much on the individuals, not on stereotypes.
I'd give this to teens interested in history, in World War II, who like family secret stories, looking for stories with interesting queer characters. ( )

En ung engelsk mand drager til Holland for at besøge sine bedstefars grav fra 2. verdenskrig. Han får dagbogen fra den hollandske kvinde, som i sin tid skjulte ham. ( )

I don't like Aidan Chambers. Shoot me if you want, but I don't like him. This won the Printz award, I know Michael Cart loves the author, but I don't think it's very good.

Alternates between two stories--contemporarily, seventeen-year-old Jacob visits a daunting Amsterdam at the request of his English grandmother--and historically, nineteen-year-old Geertrui relates her experience of British soldiers' attempts to liberate Holland from its German occupation. ( )