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Postcards from No Man's Land

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Postcards from No Man's Land
Front cover of first edition
AuthorAidan Chambers
LanguageEnglish
SeriesDance Sequence
GenreYoung adult fiction, war novel
PublisherThe Bodley Head
Publication date
7 January 1999
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (paperback)
Pages336 pp (first edition)
ISBN0-370-32376-9
OCLC477161980
LC ClassPZ7.C3557 Po 2002[1]
Preceded byThe Toll Bridge 
Followed byThis 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][a]

WorldCat reports 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. 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

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  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

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  1. ^ a b "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. ^ a b c Carnegie Winner 1999. Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 2018-02-28.
  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.
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Awards
Preceded by Carnegie Medal recipient
1999 		Succeeded by
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