Number the Stars

Title: number the Stars
Author: Lois Lowery
Genre: Historical, Fiction
Reviewer: Katie

Do you think that you would be brave enough to risk your life and lie to a German soldier? That is exactly what Annemarie Johansen had to do. She was only 10 years old and living in Copenhagen, Denmark with her family when the Nazi soldiers came marching into their town. Denmark was a small country and they had very few soldiers compared to the Germans. King Christian of Denmark knew that many of his people would certainly die if their country tried to fight against the enormous German army.

Kirsti was Annemarie’s younger sister who enjoyed having fairytales told to her at bedtime. All Danish children grew up with fairytales. She was an obstinate 5 year old who always seem to exaggerate about everything. For Kirsti, the soldiers were simply part of the landscape, something that had always been there. They were on every corner, as unimportant as lampposts, throughout her entire life.

Annemarie had an older sister named Lise who was just 21 years old when she died. She was run down by a car only 2 weeks before she was suppose to get married to Peter Neilsen. Annemarie’s mama and papa never spoke about Lise.

Peter had changed quite a lot since Lise’s death. He used to be like a fun-loving older brother to Annemarie and Kirsti, always playing pranks on them. Now he stopped by their apartment often, but he was usually in a hurry, talking quickly to Mama and Papa and saying things that Annemarie didn’t understand. Papa had changed too. He seemed much older, very tired, and defeated. The whole world had changed. Only the fairy tales had remained the same.
Ellen Rosen was Annemarie’s best friend. She had a stocky build and dark pigtails that bounced against her shoulders as she walked. Annemarie, on the other hand, was lanky and had silvery blond hair that flew behind her.

One evening, Mama came to Annemarie’s room just as she was starting to fall asleep. She told her that Peter was there and she wanted her to come down to the living room. Annemarie hadn’t seen Peter in a long time. There was something frightening about him being there at night. Copenhagen had a curfew, and no citizens were allowed out after 8 o’clock. It was very dangerous, she knew, for Peter to visit at this time. Though his visits were always hurried--they almost seemed secret, somehow, in a way she couldn’t put her finger on. Peter told Mama and Papa that the Germans had issued orders closing many stores run by Jews. It was their way of tormenting Jewish people. And just then, Annemarie realized that the Rosen’s were jewish.

The next day, Mrs. Rosen knocked on the door of the Johansen’s house. She spoke for a long time in a hurried, tense voice to Annemarie’s mother in the hall. Mama said that she had a nice surprise for the girls. She said Ellen would be coming to stay overnight and to be their guest for a few days. At dinner, Papa told them that the Nazi’s had taken the synagogue lists of all the Jews, where they lived, and what their names were. Of course, the Rosen’s were on that list, along with many others.

They planned to arrest all the Danish Jews. They planned to take them away. They call it relocation. Papa said that he could hide one person. Not three. So Peter helped Ellen’s parents to go elsewhere. They didn’t know where, but they would be safe.

That night the soldiers knocked at the Johansen’s apartment. They asked if the Rosen’s were friends of theirs and asked if they knew where they had gone? Then they looked around the apartment. Annemarie remembered the necklace that Ellen had been wearing. She whispered urgently to Ellen to take off her necklace. It had the Jewish star of David on it. But Ellen could not undo the hook. Annemarie yanked the necklace off of her neck, breaking it. She crumpled it into her hand and closed her fingers tightly. Just then, the officers entered the bedroom. They ordered the girls to get out of bed and asked what their names were. Then the officer grabbed Ellen by her hair, asking why she had dark hair when everyone else in the family was blond. She told them that her name was Lise. Papa then swiftly took out the family photo album. He tore out three pictures. They were pictures of the girls when they were infants. The officer tore the photos up after looking at them and threw them on the floor. Mama realized why Papa had torn the photos from the album. He had left the girls names on the photos, but had torn off their date of birth, as the real Lise would have been born twenty-one years earlier. The soldiers finally left.

Mama decided that she should take the girls to her brother Henrick’s house. The soldiers were already suspicious of Ellen. Henrick was a fisherman. Papa called him and asked, “Is the weather good for fishing?” Annemarie wondered why Papa would ask such a question? Was he speaking in code?

When the girls arrived at Uncle Henrick’s house, Henrick asked Mama if she had prepared the living room. She said that she had cleaned the living room and moved the furniture a bit to make room. Annemarie didn’t understand why. Then Mama explained that Great-aunt Birte died and would be resting in the living room in her casket, before being buried the next day. Annemarie had never heard of that name before. Surely she would have known if she had a relative by that name.

Then the hearse pulled up. The casket was placed in the center of the living room and soon people starting arriving at the house to pay their respects. But they were all strangers. Henrick took Ellen outside. In a moment, Uncle Henrick returned with Peter Neilsen, Ellen, and her parents that she hadn’t seen.

As Peter opened the casket, there wasn’t a dead body in it, but rather blankets and clothes that they handed out to everyone in the room. Henrick left for the boat that night. Annemarie realized that Uncle Henrick was going to take the Rosen’s on his boat, across the sea, to Sweden. Peter had given Mr. Rosen a package that he was to give to Henrick when he arrived at the boat. Peter led the first group of strangers from the living room and Mama left 20 minutes later with the second group. When her mother did not return, Annemarie got worried and went out to look for her. As she walked down the path, she could see Mama in the distance. She had fallen and broken her ankle. When Annemarie helped her get up, she noticed a package on the ground. Mr. Rosen must have dropped the package that Peter had given him to deliver to Henrick. Peter said that the package was very important. So Annemarie told her mother that she would run to the boat and deliver the package before they left to Sweden.

Annemarie hid the package in a basket with a napkin over it. As she got closer to the boat, the soldiers approached her. She told them that her Uncle Henrick was a fisherman and had forgot his lunch. They took her bread and gave it to their dogs. Then they took the cheese and apple. Next they lifted up the napkin only to find the package. They ripped it open and to Annemarie’s surprise, they found only a white handkerchief. They let Annemarie go after this and she ran all the way to the boat.

Uncle Henrick had not left yet. He was very happy to see the envelope with the white handerchief. He thanked Annemarie and she ran back home. She hadn’t seen Ellen or anyone else on the boat that morning.

When Uncle Henrick returned home the next morning, Annemarie asked him where Ellen and her family were. He explained to her that they were on the boat, but she could just not see them. The soldiers had been there searching the boat. There were hiding places in the boat underneath the boards. And when the dogs came on the boat to smell for humans, Henrick got out his handkerchief to blow his nose. On it was a special drug that ruins the dog’s ability to smell. Peter had arranged for each boat captain to have his own handerchief.

Uncle Henrick had seen Ellen and her family ashore in Sweden before returning in the boat to Denmark. Annemarie told Ellen before she left for the boat that her necklace was in a safe place and she would give it back to her someday. Annemarie knew that she would see Ellen again, Ellen had promised.

I would recommend this book to a friend because it is written well. I didn’t want to put the book down once I started reading it. Interestingly, it is one of First Lady Laura Bush’s favorite children’s books to read.