Title:
Number the Stars
Artist/Illustrator:
Lois Lowry
Genre:
Historical fiction
Suggested
Grade Level: 6-8
Like so many other kids, I find history excruciatingly boring.
Somehow reading a story about a fictional character makes it more relatable and
interesting to learn about a historical event. If you like to learn about
history this way then historical fiction is a great way to explore different
topics in history class.
Newbury Award winner, Number the Stars is a historical fiction
chapter book by Lois Lowry that tells the story of Annemarie Johansen and her
family’s attempts to help Jews during the Nazi invasion of Denmark in the
1940s. Annemarie and her family take in her best friend Ellen who is a Jew, and
they disguise her as their deceased daughter Lise. They begin to realize that
even with the disguise she is not safe and they send her to stay with
Annemarie’s Uncle Henrik who lived outside of Denmark. The story progresses
with their travels to get Ellen to a safe place and includes many true elements
of the invasion of Denmark. The story ends a few years later when the war is
over, and Annemarie is awaiting the Ellen and her family’s return, with the
Star of David necklace Ellen had left behind before the war.
This book creates a realistic sense
of what it would be like to live through the Holocaust as a family that was not
Jewish themselves but trying to assist in hiding those that were. Many elements
of the story are true events that I have heard of in history textbooks such as
using a handkerchief with rabbit blood and cocaine to lure in a search dog then
numb its sense of smell to coax it away from any Jews that may be hiding. In
the story there were also soldiers depicted patrolling the streets of
Copenhagen that were on the lookout for Jewish families. They had no respect
for any of those living in Denmark however and treated Annemarie and all the
other people of Copenhagen like less than themselves.
Throughout the story the mood is
very sullen and gloomy, however Lowry does a great job of maintaining a sense
of optimism in some of the characters at times. Although it is not a picture
book, the description in the book is written so beautifully that you can almost
picture yourself walking the streets of Copenhagen, scared of the soldiers and
hoping you’ll get to see your best friend again tomorrow. The vivid description
of the travels to Uncle Henrik’s make the reader feel nervous about being
caught smuggling Jews out of Denmark. The characters in the story are so well
developed that the reader is made to feel like he or she is actually a part of
the Johansen family and they will develop the same values those characters
have.
MA
ELA Frameworks:
MA
RL6.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis
of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
MA RL6.3 Describe
how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as
well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a
resolution.
MA RL7.8A
Interpret a literary work by analyzing how the author uses literary elements
(e.g., mood, tone, point of view, personification, symbolism).
MA RL8.3 Analyze
how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the
action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
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