Postcards from No Man's Land
1999 young adult novel by Aidan Chambers
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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]
Front cover of first edition | |
| Author | Aidan Chambers |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Dance Sequence |
| Genre | Young adult literature, war novel |
| Publisher | The Bodley Head |
Publication date | 7 January 1999 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| 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 |
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][a]
WorldCat reported that Postcards is the work by Chambers most widely held in participating libraries, by a wide margin.[citation needed]
One library catalogue record recommends Postcards for American "senior high school" students and the British librarians call it a "sophisticated book for older teenagers", which explores issues of euthanasia and sexual identity.[3]
Notes
- 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.
