Postcards from No Man's Land

Postcards from No Man's Land

Front cover of first edition
Author Aidan Chambers
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Series Dance Sequence
Genre Young adult fiction, war novel
Publisher The Bodley Head
Publication date
7 January 1999
Media type Print (paperback)
Pages 336 pp (first edition)
ISBN 0-370-32376-9
OCLC 477161980
LC Class PZ7.C3557 Po 2002[1]
Preceded by The Toll Bridge
Followed by This is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn

Postcards from No Man's Land is a young-adult novel by Aidan Chambers, published by Bodley Head in 1999. Two stories are set in Amsterdam during 1994 and 1944. One features 17-year-old visitor Jacob Todd during the 50-year commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem, in which his grandfather fought; the other features 19-year-old Geertrui late in the German occupation of the Netherlands.[2][3] It was the fifth of six novels in the series Chambers calls "The Dance Sequence", which he inaugurated in 1978 with Breaktime.[4]

Chambers won the annual Carnegie Medal, from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject.[3] In 2001 The Guardian named it one of ten books recommended for teenage boys, and called it a "seriously good and compulsively readable novel that spans 50 years and two interwoven stories of love, betrayal and self-discovery".[5]

Postcards from No Man's Land was first published in the U.S. by Dutton in 2002.[1] There it won the Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association recognising the year's best book for young adults.[6][lower-alpha 1]

WorldCat reports that Postcards is the work by Chambers most widely held in participating libraries, by a wide margin.

One library catalogue record recommends Postcards for American "senior high school" students and the British librarians call it a "sophisticated book for older teenagers. Issues of euthanasia and sexual identity are raised. This is an emotionally and intellectually challenging book and one that lingers in the mind."[3]

Notes

  1. The Printz Award, inaugurated for 1999 publications, is the premier ALA award for young adult literature. Unlike the Newbery Medal for children's books, it is open to non-U.S. authors and to "old" books newly published in the U.S.

References

  1. 1 2 "Postcards from no man's land" (first U.S. edition). Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 2012-09-05.
  2. Paula Rohrlick (May 2002). "Chambers, Aidan. Postcard from No Man's Land - Book Review". Kliatt.
  3. 1 2 3 (Carnegie Winner 1999). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 2012-07-28.
  4. "The Dance Sequence", Aidan Chambers, Aidan Chambers. Retrieved 2012-07-28.
  5. "10 reads for the teenage bloke". The Guardian, 9 October 2001.
  6. "Michael L. Printz Winners and Honor Books". Young Adult Library Services Association. ALA. Retrieved 2012-09-05.

External links

Awards
Preceded by
Skellig
Carnegie Medal recipient
1999
Succeeded by
The Other Side of Truth
Preceded by
A Step From Heaven
Michael L. Printz Award Winner
2003
Succeeded by
The First Part Last
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