Shirley Hughes' illustrations, as always, steal the show here, bringing to life the child-sized experience of the blitz and evacuation. A far cry from the innocent tales of Alfie and Annie Rose, Lenny's story imaginatively explores the probable heartache and confusion of the thousands of small children removed from their families and rocketed into other homes and worlds during the war. Hughes manages to condense a story that could be fill a novel into the length of a picturebook - one that ends happily, in a way that so many children's stories did not, but is nevertheless faithful in its attempt to give a window into the impact of war in Britain on some of its youngest citizens.