In a child-friendly way, the story contrasts the deep kindness of man who was once scorned for his simplicity, with the horrifically inhumane conditions the Jews were forced to endure.
Near the beginning of the story, Anton gives the two Jewish boys dresses and kerchiefs to wear so they have a better chance of fleeing from the synagogue to his home unnoticed by the Nazis and suspicious neighbors.
The mention of this reality in a children’s story made me uncomfortable, but it turned into an opportunity to talk about how men being dressed as women is evidence of a culture that does not value human beings as equally precious in God’s sight. Man or woman, Jewish or German, black or white, we are not loving others when we force someone to act like a person God didn’t create them to be.
I loved the last chapter of the book, “What Happened After,” even though it made me tear up. It contains real photographs of Anton and the Zeiger family when they were reunited again in 1989, the tributes that were made to the village “fool” that become the village hero, and a picture of the actual root cellar in where the Zeigers stayed hidden for over a year.
Overall, I found The Secret Of The Village Fool to be an appropriate book on World War 2 for younger children (recommended as a read-aloud for ages 9 and under). Without being too graphic or detailed, the story illustrates the ugliness of evil, the kindness and compassion of one simple man who had the courage to do the right thing, and power of hope for a better day.