After the War: From Auschwitz to Ambleside

A real tear jerker, based on real life events. A story of grief and hope. Everybody should read this

It was a window into the trauma and story of Holocaust survivor. It is never easy to hear but really worth a read.

It was a little less exciting than I expected it to be.

I liked this book though it was a bit sad hearing about the holocaust and what some of the children went through .I felt sorry for Yossi

This book was a pleasure to read because it had many adventure scenes and was very entertaining.

A little bit of history I was totally unaware of and now would love to visit the museum at Windermere. Always an important story to tell and it doesn't necessarily focus on the role of the Nazi's so much and highlights the awful conditions people were subjected to in the concentration camps. Really enjoyed this read and would be interested to read more of Tom Palmer's WWI and WWII books.

I liked this book because is was based on a real time that happed in history and it gives us information.

I loved this book because it was an emotional book describing truly how horrible the war was for children and what happened after but it gives us hope that they made it through safely.They have to keep going even after their family’s deaths.

After the War is a book describing the life of a group of Jews after World War 2. The main character, Ruth, is a young Jewish girl that survived the Holocaust. Ruth is the only one in her family. I'd highly recommend this book to my friends.

Engaging. A WW2 story from a different angle. A young boy who had witnessed many hardships and how he realised that family is the friends you make along the way.

great way to share the true story behind the children that arrived in the uk after the second world war

An absolute joy to read. Tom palmer always writes books that transport you back in time. I loved every word read and it was a real page Turner. I had tears in my eyes reading parts of it.

A beautiful book drawing on a true story - a tale of friendship and bravery . Three traumatised boys rescued from the concentration camps sent to the Lake District to rebuild their lives . I really want to know what happened to them next ….

What a powerful read. Told sensitively but honestly, this is a book of utter horror yet with total hope. It deals with a subject at a level for children which they can access.

An apparently simple book, 'After the War' quietly shows the horrors of the holocaust and its effect on the three protagonists of this story. The kindness of the people around lake Windermere contrasts with the atrocities they experienced. While not shying away from what happened, the story is unveiled gradually and is ultimately hopeful.
I will be highly recommending this to Staff and Students

I really liked this book, it is based on true events that happened in the summer of 1945 although the main characters of Yossi, Leo and Mordecai are fictional. A group of Jewish children arrived in the Lake District straight from the concentration camps in Europe and became known as the Windermere Boys. They only stayed in Windermere for a short time, until either family members were located or they made a choice to move on elsewhere however they left a long lasting legacy in the area which also has an exhibition called the Lake District Holocaust Project in the local library. The story is based on friendship, compassion and the ability of people to recover from horrific experiences.

Beautiful and brutal at the same time. Dealing with a horrific time in history with honesty and masterful tact. This boom will probably make you cry (especially when you realise it's entirely based upon real life experiences)

In my view one of the best books he has ever written.

As I write, the oppressive regime of the Taliban is taking over the whole of Afghanistan, resulting in loss of possessions, homes and liberties because of an ideology held by powerful men. So even though WW2 was 76 years ago, humans have still not learned its lessons.

But the local community welcomed these children and they certainly needed this humanitarian gesture. How will this be replicated with those fleeing Afghanistan in today’s world?

This is based on a true story, possibly unknown to many. For adults to live through the horrors of any concentration camp is bad enough, but for children it is incomprehensible. There is no way this can be compared to the recent pandemic, but there are parallels in helping children to recover slowly and the gradual ability of humans to relearn to trust others.

It was an informative and imaginative book, and even though fiction this book felt realistic as Tom Palmer used other people’s stories to create this great book. Which gave me an insight to the horrors experienced by the Jewish community in this time.

I liked this book because it was about a group of friends who were from Poland and they needed to escape the war.

I remember watching a BBC adaptation of this book, so when it appeared that the children at school where really loving Tom Palmer history books we purchased as many as we could.

It is based on the true story of 300 Jewish children of differing ages that were evacuated from Auschwitz at the end of the war, to Windermere in the Lake District. It focuses on the story of three teenage boys, Yossi, Mordecai and Leo.

The story is hard hitting and doesn't hide from what happened to those children. However, it has a feeling of hope that they can overcome the awfulness of their lives. This would be a great book for y5/6 topic on WW2.

Tom Palmer has brought a very interesting event to life on the pages of this book. The story of the Windermere Boys is not one that I was familiar with but is one that I now want to know more about.
This book would compliment our P7 topics of The Second World War and Judaism. The story is told through the eyes of Yossi and travels seemlessly between Lake Windermere and the life that Yossi, Mordecai and Leo previously experienced. I will be recommending this book to our P7 staff and pupils!

It was fun to read, sentimental gripping story

Outstanding!

This was both an easy read and a hard read - I can't recommend it enough. Tom Palmer has done a fantastic job of telling the story of the Windermere children, based on personal interviews and detailed research. It captures the hope, resilience and despair of their situation. The flashbacks in Yossi's memories are extremely tough and important - I will certainly be reading this to my class when learning about the Holocaust.

As a minor point, Barrington Stoke's typsetting made this really pleasurable to read even without my glasses on.

A superbly written account from three different children's/teens perspective. The level of detail included in this relatively short story packed a powerful punch. I particularly liked how this book focused on a specific period of time, a transition period almost immediately after the war. The three boys stories weren't fully resolved, the book didn't try to cover too much ground time wise and in focusing on a short chronological period of time, was able to really paint a picture that felt real and told us something we didn't already know about a period in history that is much written about.