Michael Rosen’s uncles were there before the war and they weren’t after. This mystery was never explained or explored in his childhood and this book documents Rosen putting the story together as an adult.
For a 10 – 14 year old child, this book works on many levels. Rosen has included many of the materials (photos, postcards, documents) that he used to piece together the story of his uncles and these provide a useful example of source material. For children, understanding how stories of the past are put together can be difficult and the book does a good job of illustrating that.
But more importantly, the artefacts make the story real. And children adore Michael Rosen and these are his uncles, so that makes the story real and personal, too, in a way that versions told at a more macro-level do not.
The Nazis stole these uncles lives and they obviously can never be brought back. But they can be remembered and their names and story can be a legacy if they help the next generation understand the true horrors of the holocaust.
As we all age and become further from WWII, there are fewer survivors to share their experiences in their own words, books such as this will become even more important.
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Red Bus Londinium Life 
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