Postcards from No Man's Land

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}{{Short description|1999 young adult novel by Aidan Chambers}}{{Outdated|date=January 2025|reason=No plot summary added}}{{Infobox book |  | name = Postcards from No Man's Land | image = Postcards from No Man's Land cover.jpg | caption = Front cover of first edition | author = [[Aidan Chambers]] | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = United Kingdom | language = English | series = ''Dance Sequence'' | genre = [[Young adult literature]], [[war novel]] | publisher = [[The Bodley Head]] | pub_date = 7 January 1999 | media_type = Print (paperback) | pages = 336 pp (first edition) | ISBN = 0-370-32376-9 | oclc = 477161980 | congress = PZ7.C3557 Po 2002<ref name=LCC> [http://lccn.loc.gov/2002016562 "Postcards from no man's land"] (first U.S. edition). Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 2012-09-05.</ref> | 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 [[Netherlands in World War II#German occupation|German occupation of the Netherlands]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PBX/is_3_36/ai_107124348/?tag=untagged | title=Chambers, Aidan. ''Postcard from No Man's Land'' - Book Review | journal=[[Kliatt]] | date=May 2002 | author=Paula Rohrlick}}</ref><ref name=medal1999/> It was the fifth of six novels in the series Chambers calls ''The Dance Sequence'', which he inaugurated in 1978 with ''[[Breaktime (novel)|Breaktime]]''.<ref name=dance>[http://www.aidanchambers.co.uk/sequence.htm "The Dance Sequence"], ''Aidan Chambers'', Aidan Chambers. Retrieved 2012-07-28.</ref>

Chambers won the annual [[Carnegie Medal for Writing|Carnegie Medal]], from the [[Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals|Library Association]], recognising the year's best children's book by a [[British subject]].<ref name=medal1999/> 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".<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/oct/09/guardianchildrensfictionprize2001.awardsandprizes1 "10 reads for the teenage bloke"]. ''[[The Guardian]]'', 9 October 2001.</ref> ''Postcards from No Man's Land'' was first published in the U.S. by [[E. P. Dutton|Dutton]] in 2002.<ref name=LCC/> There it won the [[Michael L. Printz Award]] from the [[American Library Association]] recognising the year's best book for [[Young adult literature|young adults]].<ref name=printzwinners> [http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/bookawards/printzaward/previouswinners/winners "Michael L. Printz Winners and Honor Books"]. [[Young Adult Library Services Association]]. ALA. Retrieved 2012-09-05.</ref><ref group=lower-alpha> 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.</ref>

[[WorldCat]] reported that ''Postcards'' is the work by Chambers most widely held in participating libraries, by a wide margin.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}

One library catalogue record recommends ''Postcards'' for American "[[Secondary education in the United States|senior high school]]" students and the British librarians call it a "sophisticated book for older teenagers", which explores issues of [[euthanasia]] and [[sexual identity]].<ref name=medal1999/>

==Notes== {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

==References== <references>

<ref name=medal1999> [http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/archive-title.php?id=59 Carnegie Winner 1999]. Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. [[Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals|CILIP]]. Retrieved 2018-02-28.</ref>

</references> {{Portal|Children's literature}}

==External links== * {{Worldcat|oclc=48837830}} — first US edition  * [http://www.aidanchambers.co.uk/postcards.htm Reviews of ''Postcards from No Man's Land''] reprinted by the author

{{s-start}} {{s-ach|awards}} {{succession box|title=[[Carnegie Medal for Writing|Carnegie Medal recipient]]|before=''[[Skellig]]''|after=''[[The Other Side of Truth]]''|years=[[1999 in literature|1999]]}} {{s-end}}

[[Category:1999 British novels]] [[Category:1999 English-language novels]] [[Category:1999 children's books]] [[Category:British young adult novels]] [[Category:Novels about bisexual topics]] [[Category:Children's historical novels]] [[Category:Novels set during World War II]] [[Category:Carnegie Medal in Literature–winning works]] [[Category:Michael L. Printz Award–winning works]] [[Category:Novels set in Amsterdam]] [[Category:Novels set in 1944]] [[Category:The Bodley Head books]] [[Category:Children's books set in Amsterdam]] [[Category:Children's books set in the 1940s]] [[Category:Children's books set in the 1990s]] [[Category:Children's books set during World War II]]