(Book Cover: Lowry, Lois. 1989. New York: Bantam Doubleday Publishing Group, Inc. Photo Source: Barnes and Noble. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/, accessed November 1, 2008.)
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lowry, Lois. 1989. Number the stars. New York: Bantam Doubleday Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN: 0-395-51060-0; 978-0-395-51060-5
2. PLOT SUMMARY: This is a story of two young girls living in Copenhagen, Denmark during the Nazi occupation of the 1940s. One of the girls, Annemarie Johansen was a Lutheran and the other girl, Ellen Rosen, was Jewish. They are best friends who live the life of innocent children until the day the Germans begin to round up Jews in Copenhagen. Through a series of well planned and often frightening events, the Johansen family hides Ellen from the Germans. Annemarie and her mother help Ellen, her family and other Jews flee from Denmark to Sweden where they will be safe for the duration of World War II.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS: The main characters, ten year old Annemarie and Ellen, are very real and believable to the young reader. These readers can understand the innocence and freedom from worry these girls have in the very beginning of the book. The reader can relate to how the two girls race home from school and get upset because a younger sibling can’t keep up. By the end of Chapter 1, the young reader will be interested because this story is about children just like them.
Ms. Lowry does not overwhelm the story with the details of World War II but creates a seamless story that one could believe is biographical. The actions of the characters are so believable; the reader will be wondering if they would have the courage to do the same things. For example, Annemarie must carry a basket, with an envelope hidden inside, envelope inside to her uncle who is smuggling Jews out of the country. She must make it to the boat before he leaves; but she is stopped along the way by German soldiers. The reader can easily believe that Annemarie would try to get this envelope to her uncle and can feel her fear when she is stopped by the soldiers. It is a remarkable act of bravery. She risks her own safety for the safety of the Jewish people. It is an act that every reader will probably agree that they would do the same thing if they were in Annemarie’s position.
The setting of Copenhagen, Denmark during the time of German occupation is vividly described. The author includes many facts and realistic dialogue between characters to set up the setting for this story. Historical information is given throughout the book, such as: no butter or sugar for a year; no fuel for warming homes; electricity had to be rationed; people ate mostly potatoes for food; no leather for shoes; and much more. Ms. Lowry does not overwhelm the story with details but provides just enough detail to give the young reader a sense of what it was like to be living in Denmark during this time in history.
In the “Afterword”, Ms. Lowry includes a paragraph written by a twenty-one year old man who was part of the Danish Resistance. He wrote, on the night before the German’s executed him, these words: “. . . the dream for you all, young and old, must be to create an ideal of human decency, and not a narrow-minded and prejudiced one.” It is clear that Ms. Lowry wrote this book with these words in mind as it is this theme of kindness and humanity that runs throughout. The “Afterword” is an especially good addition to this book because it is used to tell the reader what parts are true and what parts are from the author’s imagination. This is something young readers will find fascinating.
I must add that I strongly disagree with the New York Times Book Review listed below. This is a historical fiction book for young children, perhaps 3rd or 4th grade. It is written with enough factual information to take away some of the innocence of these young children who are probably only learning about World War II and its atrocities for the first time. I find it perfectly acceptable for a young child to see the German occupation as “little more than an invasion of bad-tempered bores”. I see no reason that nine- and ten-year old children need to learn the true horrors of the German army at such a young age. Isn’t it bad enough that there were a generation of children that had to learn those horror first hand?
4. BOOK REVIEW EXCERPT(S): (Source: Book Review Digest Plus, WilsonWeb database, accessed via TWU Library Online)
THE HORN BOOK, 65, (May/June 1989) 371: “The heroism of these ordinary folk is commemorated in a noteworthy novel, scaled to the comprehension of elementary school readers without sacrificing elements of style. . .”
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, 94 (May 21, 1989) 32: “The German occupation seems little more than an invasion of bad-tempered bores. . . . Annemarie is, after all, a Danish Christian citizen in good standing, and her innocent viewpoint keeps us at too great a distance to see clearly either the scale of the evil or the magnitude of the courage from which this story springs.”
BOOKLIST, 85 (March 1, 1989) 1194: “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.”
5. CONNECTIONS IN A SCHOOL LIBRARY SETTING:
· A journal writing activity could be used with this book. Because the chapters are fairly short, a teacher could read one chapter per day and then give the students a few minutes afterward to write their thoughts about the chapter. A general discussion about the chapter could then follow.
· In addition to using this book as part of a lesson on World War II or the Holocaust, it could also be used in conjunction with a lesson about Denmark, King Christian X (King of Denmark), the Danish Resistance or Sweden and its neutrality during World War II.
· Share additional books, video, audio, or poetry on the subject matter with children.
Other Related Items:
· Deedy, Carmen. 2000. The yellow star: The legend of King Christian X of Denmark. Ill. Henri Sorensen. Atlanta: Peachtree.
· Waterston, Sam, Mia Farrow, Justin Whalin. Miracle at midnight. 1998. VHS. Elk Grove Village, Illinois: Disney Educational Productions.
· Elmer, Robert. 1994. Into the Flames. Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers.
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