Book Review -- Number The Stars (Module 5)

Historical Fiction

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lowry, Lois. NUMBER THE STARS. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1989. ISBN 0440403278.


2. PLOT SUMMARY

What does it mean to be brave? This is a question Annemarie Johansen has to face at the tender age of ten years old in 1943 Denmark. Nazi soldiers occupy every street corner. The Danes are treated with cold suspicion. Annemarie’s best friend, Ellen Rosen, is Jewish. That fact becomes important to Annemarie as events unfold that show her the danger her friend and others like her face at the hands of the Nazi regime because they are Jews. At the same time, Annemarie sees the sacrifices her own family is willing to make and life-and-death risks that must be taken to keep their friends free. Early on in this story, when thinking about the danger that the Jews and those who were caught trying to hide them would face, the book tells us Annemarie’s thoughts: “Would she die to protect them? Truly? Annemarie was honest enough to admit, there in the darkness, to herself, that she wasn’t sure.” The time comes when circumstances require Annemarie to be brave and risk her life alongside her family. The reader learns of the historically heroic people of Denmark. In the Afterward of this book, it is explained that due to the efforts of such convicted, valiant people, “In the weeks following the Jewish New Year, almost the entire Jewish population of Denmark- nearly seven thousand people- was smuggled across the sea to Sweden.” This was not accomplished without bloodshed; very young men and women of the Resistance were executed when caught trying to aide the Jews in escape. This book reads as a testament to those brave souls.



3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The subject of the Holocaust brings to mind a very dark and depraved time in history. This book focuses on the bravery of Denmark, though captured by the Nazis. Through the eyes of the main character, Annemarie Johansen, the reader learns about what the world was like at that time and place. Annemarie tells us that people don’t laugh as they used to before the Germans came. Food is scarce and often confiscated by the Germans for their own use. A simple act of two young girls running and racing in the street is cause for suspicion from the two German guards who daily man that part of the street. Citizens of Denmark, whatever their faith, are easily made into targets for harassment or cruelty from the Nazi soldiers. Historic fact bears out in horrific detail the heinous acts of the Nazis against the Jews. To some degree the soldiers in this book seemed one-dimensional, as in a morality tale, without much individualization. Perhaps this was necessary to represent the entirety of the carnage left behind by that regime. So many ordinary people’s convictions compelled them to be nothing less than heroic. The poignancy of the risks taken and lives saved by so many people in a nation under German rule and guard is overwhelming.

4. Review Excerpts and Awards

Newbery Award Medal

Booklist review:
"Lowry tells her story well. . . . While the novel has an absorbing plot, its real strength lies in its evocation of deep friendship between two girls and of a caring family who make a profoundly moral choice to protect others during wartime. Permeated with clear elements of popular appeal as well as rich substance, this novel will also be an ideal support for classroom units on World War II."

Hornbook review:
“…The appended author's note details the historical incidents upon which Lowry bases her plot. By employing the limited omniscient third-person perspective, she draws the reader into the intensity of the situation as a child of Annemarie's age might perceive it. The message is so closely woven into the carefully honed narrative that the whole work is seamless, compelling, and memorable--impossible to put down; difficult to forget."

5. CONNECTIONS

This book underscores the points of bravery, risk, and sacrifice.
It could be used in a Social Studies unit.
It could be used to discuss diversity.