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Title: Number the Stars
Author: Lois Lowry
Publication Date: 1989 (book), 2004 (audio)
Producer: Random House, Inc., Listening Library
Narrated by: Blair Brown
Recording Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
The Plot:
via wiki:
Annemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen, two ten-year-old best friends living in Nazi-controlled Copenhagen, Denmark, during World War II, and Annemarie’s younger sister Kirsti, are stopped on the street on their way home from school by German soldiers. Annemarie tells her parents about the incident when she returns home. She is told to be more careful, especially because Ellen is Jewish. The Germans soon announce that they will be “relocating” Denmark’s Jewish population. At the local synagogue, the Nazis take the names and addresses of every Jewish family in Copenhagen. Ellen’s parents flee Denmark with Annemarie’s brother-in-law, Peter. Ellen is forced to stay with the Johansens and masquerade as Lise, Annemarie’s late older sister, despite being half her age. One early morning, three soldiers enter the Johansens’ apartment, believing the Rosens might be hiding there. To conceal Ellen’s identity, Annemarie rips off her Star of David necklace. Ellen is passed off as Annemarie’s sister, with her parents providing old photos of Lise to prove this. The soldiers are suspicious of their story, but leave anyway.
Annemarie, Ellen, and Kirsti leave with Annemarie’s mother the next morning for Uncle Henrik’s house, which is across the lake from Sweden, a neutral country where Jews aren’t persecuted. When they arrive, Henrik tells Annemarie that her Great-Aunt Birte has died, and a huge casket is placed in the middle of the living room. Annemarie doesn’t believe she has a Great-Aunt Birte, but Henrik encourages her to be brave and keep this secret to herself, even from Ellen. The next evening, many people come to mourn “Aunt Birte”, to Annemarie’s puzzlement. Nazis come to the house and see start questioning the family. They explain that Great-Aunt Birte has died, and they are carrying out traditional rituals. When the Nazis order the casket to be opened, Mrs. Johansen lies that Great-Aunt Birte had typhus, a contagious disease, and the Nazis leave without further questions. After they leave, the wake continues. Peter, who is present, reads to the group the beginning of Psalm 147 from the Bible, which describes the Lord God numbering the stars. Annemarie’s mind begins to wander since she is unfamiliar with the psalm. After finishing, Peter opens the casket and gives the warm clothing and blankets stored inside it to the Jewish families, who were masquerading as Great-Aunt Birte’s “friends.’ They leave in smaller groups to avoid drawing attention to themselves. Ellen says goodbye to Annemarie and her mother.
Early in the morning, Annemarie sees her mother crawling in the distance because she had broken her ankle. After helping her mother back to the house, Annemarie finds a packet of great importance to the Resistance, which Henrik had dropped when he accidentally tripped on a flight of stairs. Mrs. Johansen tells Annemarie to fill a basket with food and the packet, and run as fast as she can. Annemarie runs off onto a wooded path in the direction of her uncle’s boat. She is halted by Nazi soldiers with dogs. When they question Annemarie about what she is doing out so early, she lies that she is bringing a meal to her uncle. The soldiers do not believe her and one of them searches through the basket. However, they eventually let her go, and Annemarie makes it to her uncle’s boat. She gives Henrik an envelope that contains a handkerchief, and returns home.
Henrik returns to Denmark later that evening from Sweden. He reveals to Annemarie that many Jewish people, including the Rosens, were hiding in his boat to be smuggled into Sweden. He also explains that the handkerchief in her package contained the scent of rabbit blood, which attracted the Nazi dogs, and the strong odor of cocaine, which numbed their noses and prevented them from tracking the Jews. Several revelations are made, including that Peter is in the Danish Resistance. It is also revealed that Lise had not died from a car crash but from being run over by a tank because she was part of the Resistance.
Denmark is liberated two years after the war’s end. Since then, Peter has been executed by the Nazis and is buried in an unmarked grave. Annemarie finds Ellen’s Star of David necklace and after her father fixes it for her, she decides to wear it until Ellen comes back to Denmark.
My Review:
I decided to review this book after seeing it on my progeny’s school reading list for this year. Despite having read an enormous amount of Holocaust themed books during my education, I had somehow never read this one. As a result, I was curious about a couple of things. First, is the story age appropriate? Second, what is the teachable message of the book? As a bonus, I also just wanted to know whether the book actually good.
I’ll start with the last question first. I enjoyed the story, which is essentially about how one Danish family helped smuggle their Jewish neighbors into Sweden during World War 2. The family was relatable, the tension was built well, and I liked the main child character’s story arc. She learned about the ugliness of the world and she learned to be brave in the face of that ugliness. I thought the chapter near the end, wherein she was confronted while alone by German soldiers, was particularly well done. The epilogue after was interesting and excellent, too, with the author giving the historical basis and inspiration for her historical fiction novel.
Depending on your child, I think you could introduce this story to them from somewhere between about age 9 to age 11, or at any time after. I would add though that if you are going to let a younger, or a more sensitive reader, pick this one up, you probably ought to do a lot of explanatory legwork first. The idea of angry soldiers searching your apartment, after dark, might be quite frightening. The scene wherein the German soldier slaps the main character’s mother was also a bit tough, though the story handled that quickly and well. The story benefits from the fact that none of its tragedies happen within the story. We learn about the death of Peter (a character we meet briefly in the story) after the action of the story is over. I don’t want to gloss over that death too much, as we are told he was executed. That could lead to a long and difficult conversation. However, as we don’t “witness” that event on the page, I believe the death is much easier for a child to digest.
One other area wherein I think a parent might need to be prepared to talk with a younger reader concerns the topic of lying. Generally speaking, I think most parents have a rule with their kids that lying is bad. In the story though, lying is both good and an act of bravery. If your kid is reading this book, you might want to have thought through an explanation to share with him or her as to when and why lying might sometimes be a good choice.
The book is very short, so if I have not done enough to either alleviate your concerns about its age appropriateness, or to convince you of the validity of those concerns, I recommend reading it. I enjoyed the audiobook quite a bit. It’s a very short read and Blair Brown gave an excellent narration performance.
The teachable message from this book is that we should always love our neighbors and do everything we can to protect them from evil. The Danish – at the risk of their own lives – showed neighborly love to their Danish Jewish neighbors by hiding them in their homes and cleverly smuggling them into neutral Sweden. The main character, near the end of the book, learned to be brave in the service of that love of her neighbor. While I think we all hope our kids never personally face these types of situations, we should hope that they view bravery in the service of love as positive and desirable.
Overall, I both enjoyed and recommend Number the Stars. The Holocaust is a very heavy topic, and a difficult one to introduce to children, but I think Lois Lowry did a really excellent job of just that.
