Book Review NUMBER THE STARS

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lowry, Lois. 1989. NUMBER THE STARS. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0395510600

2. PLOT SUMMARY
Ten-year-olds Annemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen are best friends who live in Copenhagen, Denmark during the Second World War. Annemarie is a Christian, but Ellen is Jewish. These young girls’ lives change when the Rosen family and other Jews become endangered. In efforts to keep safe, Mr. and Mrs. Rosen leave Ellen with the Johansen family to go in hiding.

Ellen pretends to be the Johansen’s other daughter Lise, who died fighting for the Danish Resistance. Eventually, Ellen is taken to Uncle Henrik’s home where Annemarie’s family hopes to smuggle the Rosen family into Sweden by using fishing boats. In the end, it is Annemarie’s bravery that helps her Jewish friends safely flee Denmark.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Lowry’s character of Annemarie is someone the targeted audience (8-12 year olds) can relate to. She is a typical young girl who likes to play with paper dolls, run in the girls’ footrace at school, and thinks her younger sister is a pest. However, Annemarie’s character is also someone students can learn from because her circumstances have made her grow up faster than she should have.

The theme of justice, bravery, and devotion are prevalent throughout the book. The author explains, “Now she was ten, with long legs and no more silly dreams of pink-frosted cupcakes. And now she—and all the Danes—were to be bodyguards for Ellen, and Ellen’s parents, and all of Denmark’s Jews” meaning Annemarie had to try her best to protect Jews from injustice because it was the right thing to do.

Throughout the story, we learn facts about the Holocaust, WWII, Nazis, the Danish Resistance, and the daily life of average citizens during this time. Lowry does an excellent job in balancing fiction and facts in Number the Stars.

4. AWARDS WORD AND REVIEW EXCERPTS
Newbery Medal
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award
Rebecca Caudill Young Reader’s Book Award
Great Stone Face Children’s Book Award
Golden Archer Award
Sydney Taylor Book Award

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “Readers are taken to the very heart of Annemarie's experience, and, through her eyes, come to understand the true meaning of bravery.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: “Set in Nazi-occupied Denmark in 1943, this 1990 Newbery winner tells of a 10-year-old girl who undertakes a dangerous mission to save her best friend.”

5. CONNECTIONS
Number the Stars is a historical fiction story about a little girl’s life during WWII in Denmark. Another book students can read is Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, which is a true account of this time.

Frank, Anne. 1993. ANNE FRANK: THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0553296981

After reading both books, students can compare and contrast the two books.

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