5 stars! A super good upper elementary age range book. Deals realistically with the Nazi invasion of a Polish village. The characters were fully formed and interesting. They are children and they act/react like kids with the added story depth of running for their lives from soldiers. May be too graphic for sensitive kids but I honestly think this book was so good it should be required reading when your kids start to wonder what WWII was really like. My 9 year old son loved this book as well. He thought it was just right as to violence and the kids being brave no matter what the war was throwing at them. The author, Lauren Tarshis, does a great job with the story and she also gives some extra resources at the back of the book for further study.