Postcards from No Man's Land

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Postcards from No Man's Land
File:Postcards from No Man's Land cover.jpg
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. 1.0 1.1 "Postcards from no man's land" (first U.S. edition). Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 2012-09-05.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 (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 Carnegie Medal recipient
1999
Succeeded by
The Other Side of Truth
Preceded by Michael L. Printz Award Winner
2003
Succeeded by
The First Part Last