Number the Stars
Common Sense Note
Lowry's sense of timing and choice of details put readers in the middle of the story. A riveting read, but your kids may have questions afterward.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cindy Kane
Lowry doesn't waste a word, starting with Annemarie and Ellen's frightening run-in with German soldiers in the opening chapter. In quick strokes, Lowry establishes the setting and characters and foreshadows Annemarie's subsequent encounters with soldiers, each of which increases the tension. Lowry also has the gift of surprise. An older sister, whose death has shadowed the Johansens, is revealed to have been a Resistance fighter. The important packet for Uncle Henrik turns out to be a handkerchief--but it is the key to the success of the rescue mission.
The symbol of stars weaves in and out of the story. When the crowd of escaping Jews gathers at Henrik's house, they are comforted with the words of Psalm 147: "O praise the Lord ... he who numbers the stars one by one." "How can anyone number the stars?" Annemarie wonders. But she is one of the brave Danes who save their Jewish neighbors, one by one. The ending, in which Annemarie vows to wear Ellen's Star of David necklace till her friend returns, would be hokey in the hands of a lesser writer; instead, it leaves a lump in the throat. So does the Afterword: crafted as carefully as the novel, it makes the point that these fictional characters represent real people whose idealism was a gift to the world.
Readers might also enjoy Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop, about French schoolchildren who rescue Jewish children, and Escape From Warsaw by Ian Serralier. Lowry's other Newbery winner, The Giver, is a complex futuristic tale aimed at older readers.
Plot Summary:
This stirring World War II novel personalizes the story of Denmark's heroic rescue of its Jews from the Nazis, telling of a brave ten-year-old Danish girl who helps her family smuggle her Jewish friends to safety in Sweden.
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ViolenceFear of capture, several confrontations with Nazis. Annemarie's best friend is in terrible danger. |
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Social BehaviorPersecution of the Jews |
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