Michael Rosen relates his lengthy quest to find out about the fate of his great aunts and uncles in France and Poland during World War II in this short volume of prose and poetry. Jewish Rosen grew up in England after the war. His father didn't talk much about these relatives, but noted obliquely when asked, "they were there at the beginning of the War, but they had gone by the end." As an adult, Rosen worked on piecing together what happened, following twists and turns that included moments of breakthrough and inquiries that led nowhere. He started with stories from an aunt and uncle in the United States, later following the leads in letters found by American cousins sent by one of his French great uncles during the war. From there he engaged in research, reading, and trips to France, gradually piecing together the path that led to Auschwitz, and death, for his French great uncles. The Polish relatives were harder to trace; but one, 17 at the start of the war, survived. Each brief prose section describes another discovery in Rosen's research, and concludes with a poem. A foreword by Marc Aronson and Rosen's final chapter both note that this story about the Holocaust resonates with the fate of refugees today. (Ages 10-14)