The Secret of the Village Fool

Rebecca Upjohn, Renné Benoit

CELA Library

Type:

Non-Fiction

Categories:

General | History

Themes:

General, Holocaust

Language:

English

Publisher:

Second Story Press

Grade Level:

2-4

Age Range:

9-12

Accessible Format Availability:

CELA Library

Where to buy it

Amazon

Indigo

Description

The true story of Anton, an unlikely hero who – despite being known as the “village fool” – showed remarkable courage during the Holocaust by hiding a Jewish family and two orphaned girls, saving them from being captured by the Nazis.

Milek and his brother, Munio, live in a sleepy village in Poland, where nothing exciting seems to happen. They have a kind and gentle neighbour named Anton, but the people of the village laugh at Anton and call him the village fool because he talks to animals and only eats vegetables. When the war brings Nazi soldiers to town, life changes. The Nazis begin rounding up Jewish boys like Milek and Munio. Anton worries about them and comes up with a plan to hide the whole family in his own home, putting his life at risk without a thought. Based on a true story. The back of the book outlines what happened to Anton and the others after the war, and includes photographs. Anton was honoured both by Poland and by the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, where he was named one of the Righteous Among the Nations.

Contributors

Rebecca Upjohn has worked as an architectural photographer, sheep farmhand, bookstore helper, and more recently a writer and film producer for an independent short film for children called The Go Cart. Rebecca lives in Toronto with her husband, Don and their two sons, Harris and Emmett. The author of the picture books Lily and the Paper Man and Patrick’s Wish, she is interested in characters who reach out to help others. She divides her time between New Hampshire and Ontario.

Renné Benoit has been drawing pictures since she could hold a crayon. She now works out of her home studio in Southern Ontario, where she lives with her husband, their daughter, and their dogs. Her recent work includes When-I-was-a-little-girl by Rachna Gilmore and Goodbye to Griffith Street by Marilynn Reynolds, which was shortlisted for the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon award, and won the Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize in 2005.