Realistic or Historical Fiction

Number the Stars

By Lois Lowry

Chapter Book

Number the Stars is a touching and powerful story about a young girl, named Annemarie, from Copenhagen and her courageous experience with the Nazi invasion. Annemarie’s best friend, Ellen, is Jewish and her family is facing “relocation” if found by the Nazis. No one knows what “relocation” is or what it entails; they just know it is bad. Annemarie’s mother, father, chatterbox younger sister, Uncle Henrik, and close friend Peter have decided to help Ellen’s family escape to Sweden, a country free from the Nazi invasion. They do so by boarding Henrik’s fishing boat and hiding under the floor in a secret room. Ellen’s family arrives safely to Sweden and once the war ends it is safe for their family to return home. As the book concludes, Annemarie finds Ellen’s gold Star of David necklace she had to rip off of her friend's neck and hide one night when the Nazis were searching her family’s home. The clasp is broken and she asks her father to fix is so she can return it to Ellen when she sees her again. Number the Stars is a wonderfully done book with a compelling story. It can certainly be used in an upper grades classroom. Students can talk about that time period and briefly about the Holocaust. They can touch on bravery and friendship and remaining strong through difficult times. On page 76 of the book Annemarie is asking herself "bravery" means. At the young age of ten she learns exactly what the word means. This would be a great subject to bring up in the classroom and have students discuss and write about. To enhance the writing process even further the students could take turns typing up their ideas/feelings about bravery on a word document and share them with fellow classmates.