Number the Stars by Lowis Lowry begins in Denmark in the city of Copenhagen in 1943, at this time the country has been under nazi occupation for three years. Restrictions on the lives of Jewish people along with other demographics have been upscaling. The main character, Annemarie Johansen, has a best friend, Ellen, who is Jewish and needs to leave because of the strong concern of being rounded up and taken away. Annemarie is not fully aware of what's happening as she is so young and naive. Ellen’s parents leave at night while she stays with Annemarie’s family. That same night, German soldiers visit Ellen’s apartment as well as Annemarie’s in search of Ellen and her family. Ellen pretends to be one of the Johansens however her disguise isn't fully believed and the soldiers require more evidence. Luckily Annamarie had another sister who had previously passed away and they looked very similar as babies so this worked very well to conceal Ellen’s true identity. The next morning Mrs. Johansen takes Ellen, Annemarie, and Annemarie's little sister to their uncle Henrik’s house by the ocean. Across the sea from the house, you can see the shore of Sweden. Sweden had maintained its policy of neutrality for the whole of World War 2, and lots of Jews found refuge within the country. Annmarie’s uncle was a fisherman and owned a boat after arriving at the house Ellen met back up with her parents and they started toward Henrik’s ship with him and Mrs. Johansen as their guides. Annemarie stays back a while but then realizes that her mom who has yet to come home has broken her ankle she is told to take a very important package to her uncle Henric. They put the envelope into a basket with some food and Annemarie was on her way to the boat. As she makes he way along the path she comes across two soldiers with a dog who stop her and ask her some questions. All through this interaction their dog obsesses over the basket that Annemarie is carrying and asks her to open it so they can look through it. They take out a piece of the food and think that’s what the dog wants and give part of it to the pup. They also discover the package but when they open it, it only includes a handkerchief and they let her go on her way. Annemarie makes it to her uncle’s ship on time gives him the package and heads home. That night Henrik comes back and tells Annemarie what the handkerchief was for, to keep to dogs from smelling the people hiding on the ship. The story ends with Annemarie learning what happened to her dead sister and she can't wait for Ellen to come home as the war has finally ended.
I enjoyed this book as it was a nice easy quick read and was easy to understand as well as the historical references that gave a more little kid-friendly feel. I would recommend this book to younger kids as it is such an easy read but the author, Lowis Lowry, has written many other works that may be of interest to you the reader.
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