Twenty and Ten

Tells about twenty French children who successfully protect ten Jewish children from the Nazis. Mentions food shortages and death or imprisonment for those who cross the Nazis. Doesn't go into detail about the Holocaust. The children draw a parallel between Jesus, Mary, and Joseph fleeing Herod's

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men to Egypt and the Jewish children fleeing the Nazis.

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Twenty and Ten is a novella, written in the 1952, by a French author. It is a story about hiding Jewish children. The twist in this story which may be different from other stories like it is that children have to be clever and crafty in protecting the Jewish children and not the adults. In fact the

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climax of the story is when Nazi's arrive at a small boarding school while the nun in charge is away. The children have to use their best devices to outwit the Nazi interrogators in order to save their hiding friends. This is a short book and is only 76 pages long. It would be a great introduction to historical fiction for a second or third grade reader. The book has some wonderful yet simple pencil illustrations that assist in its reading. The characters are not well developed, but the overall interest and intrigue of the story makes up for the shallow character development.

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Twenty and Ten, written by Claire Huchet Bishop is a historical fiction novel about twenty French fifth grade children who are brought to a refuge in the mountains during the German occupation of France. Despite not even knowing what a “Jew” is these courageous children agree to hide ten Jewish

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refugee children. All thirty of the children demonstrate immense kindness and understanding towards one another, and form close friendships. The children and their mother-like figure, Sister Gabriel, develop the motto “we all eat, or nobody eats.” Food was scarce and they were all living in great danger. They suspected the Nazi’s would eventually come and search for the ten Jewish children, so they all agreed to never betray them, not matter what the Nazi’s did to them. One day, two Nazi soldiers arrive and the Jewish children go into hiding. This is a remarkable, heart-warming story of these innocent children sacrificing their lives for each other.

I would recommend this book for students up to 6th grade. The children in the book are roughly their age and they will be able to relate to the characters. Since they are so close in age to the characters in the story, it would be easy to discuss with students what how they would have reacted to certain situations in the novel. Would they have sacrificed their lives? Would they have been able to act so courageously? (Not just agreeing to hide the Jews, but providing them with food and shelter while the Nazi’s were searching their camp for days? After discussing the novel, teachers could have the students act out this short story.

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Ten Jewish children being hidden at a school to avoid Nazi capture

Twenty and Ten is a very suspenseful book about a group of children at a boarding school in France who hide a group of Jewish children from the Nazis. The French children have discovered a secret cave and this is where they hide the Jewish children. At one point the Nazis actually come to the

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school and the French children must do their best not to let their secret out. The story keeps you on the edge of your seat.

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Excellent true story of one group of French kids protecting children from the Nazis.

Thrift store find. Another aspect of the Nazi campaign against the Jews - this one is so rich, so full of complex ideas, that it deserves room on your Holocaust shelf in your classroom even if said shelf is overflowing. It is indeed scary, but some of the children were only 10 (a few were even

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younger) and I think it's perfectly appropriate to share with fourth or fifth-graders.

Who would think that in 76 illustrated pages a child could learn about first crushes, the difference between bad soldiers and honorable ones, the fact that Jews have been persecuted for thousands of years, the courage of a growing boy to share insufficient food, and of a girl to sneak out at night past the soldiers, etc.? And yet it's gracefully told and even includes bits of humor.

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