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 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. ( )

A good choice for an early chapter book, 76 pages long, that tells the story of 20 French refugee children who helped to hide 10 Jewish children. Has good humor in spite of the serious setting, and good appeal for young children, and can be a good introduction to WW2.

A very remarkable true story of twenty Catholic children, living in the country (to escape the war) with their teacher (a Catholic nun) who agree to hide ten Jewish children from the Nazis. The children show great heroism in offering to share even their meager food and bedding with these children and bravely face the Nazis alone while their teacher is detained. The story is a bit suspenseful, but ends beautifully (and a bit poetically) and could be read-aloud to fairly young children (Approximately 4th grade reading level). Highly recommended! ( )

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 men to Egypt and the Jewish children fleeing the Nazis.

A wonderful read-aloud providing lots of discussion and written so well for even a kindergartener to understand. This book opened up my children's heart of compassion when they were so interested in WWII at the time after seeing WWII planes at a flight museum at Balboa Park. ( )