The Secret of the Village Fool [Library Binding]

The Secret of the Village Fool was a great educational children's book. Not only will the children like it for the eye catching illustrations and interesting story line but adults will like it as well because it teaches factual information about WWII. The book is about a man named Anton. He thinks and acts differently than everyone around him so he becomes known as the village fool. One day, the Nazis come looking for all the Jewish boys. Anton helps a couple of the boys hide, along with their family. Suddenly when the war is over, Anton is transformed from the village fool to the village hero. I think the author did a good job of writing the story so that younger children could understand it. She was able to simplify it while still making it realistic and accurate. The illustrations in this book are wonderful. They add a lot of detail to the story. I am especially fond of Zipora teaching the boys to play cats cradle. It shows that even in the midst of tragedy good things can happen. I liked that there was short section in the back of the book explaining what happened to the characters after the story was over. I recommend this book for children ages 8 and older. I also recommend this book to anyone who likes to learn about true events in WWII.

Anton, the title character of The Secret of the Village Fool by Rebecca Upjohn, was a real person named Anton Sukhinski. Although his fellow villagers considered him a fool for his simple ways, Anton managed to hide six Jewish people for nearly a year during the Holocaust. He saved them from their neighbors, from the Nazis and from the fate suffered by millions. The motivation for his self endangering kindness? His ridiculed foolishness, his empathy for all living creatures. As the fictional Anton says, "how could I not save you? I knew in my heart it was what I was meant to do. Life is precious--every life." If Anton was a fool, then we should all be so foolish.

The six people Anton saved, Tata and Mama Zeiger, their two young sons, Munio and Milek, and two other young girls, Eva and Zipora, never forgot their brave protector and what he did for them. They took care of him in his old age and gave testimony about his valiant deeds to Yad Vashem, "the Jewish people's living memorial to the Holocaust." This testimony allowed him to be remembered and honored at Yad Vashem as a righteous gentile, someone who risked his own life to help the Jewish people.

Even without the weight of its truthful core, this moving and harrowing story would stand on its own. Children (grades 3 and up) will relate to the worries and questions of Milek, the youngest child, who asks "What war? Who is Hitler?" and "Why do you hate us so so much?" Although in picture book format, there is enough drama and suspense to keep older children and adults reading to its conclusion.

The Holocaust is a difficult subject to address in books for children, particularly in picture books. Rebecca Upjohn, by focusing this story on the goodness found in one man, creates hope and helps us believe that good can win. Anton was just one man, and just a simple man, but he defied the odds, fought back against a giant enemy and triumphed with quiet, brave and dedicated perseverance. Renee Benoit gracefully illustrates life in a small village and the myriad of emotions experienced by the story's characters. Rebecca and Renee have created a book which gently but honestly tells the story of both the survivors and their protector.

The Secret of the Village Fool has many teaching points and will work well in both private and secular curricula. Some of the many themes I can envision using this book to teach are; Holocaust, Yad Vashem, righteous gentiles, survival, war, peace, hatred, loving kindness, religious (in)tolerance, respect, faith, differences, remembrance and honor. The Secret of the Village Fool, well told, beautifully illustrated and expertly researched (timeline, facts & photographs included in the after), belongs in your library.

Disclosure: I received a copy of The Secret of the Village fool through the goodreads giveaways program.

Based on a true story, Rebecca retells the story of Anton Suchinski.

Milek and his brother Munio are taking some supplies to Anton. They squawk at the chore because Anton is strange, they say. Villagers call him a fool because he can't read or write, because he talks to animals and plants, and because he never eats meat. But Mama insists, as she tells them, her hands on hips, "Anton may have his own way of doing things, but he is a good man."

These are dark and fearful days for the Polish village. Adolf Hitler marches through Europe, his soldiers arresting the Jewish people to take them away to camps. Neighbors are turning against neighbors out of fear of reprisal. Suddenly, neighbors are looking at Milek's family with the same suspicions because they are Jewish.

When the soldiers finally reach the village, they announce they come for all the boys, and kill anyone who gets in their way. When they threaten to take away Milek and Munio, Anton comes up with a plan: he disguises them as girls! But the danger isn't over. Nazi soldiers burn the synagogue and the sacred books. Anton must hide Mama and the boys, and others, as the soldiers now hunt for all the Jewish people.

Rebecca's deceptively simple prose carries the full tense, emotive impact of a desperate time in history, effectively making it personal and accessible to young readers. Renne Benoit's sepia-tinted illustrations carry this tension as Anton hides the families in his basement, using darker tones and shadow to illustrate their despair and fear.
The author's afterward brings the story to a satisfying - if not tear-jerking - end as she tells what happens to the family after the harrowing year in the basement. After the war, Milek and Munio move to the United States, keeping in touch with Anton through the years. In the 1960s, the letters stop coming. Just as Anton once saved them, now the brothers work to find and save their friend.

This is an amazing story about finding courage when and where you least expect it.