Review: Number the Stars

Title: Number the Stars
Author: Lois Lowry
Pages: 137
Rating: 4.5/5

Ten year old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think about life before the war. But it's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching in their town.

The Nazis won't stop. The Jew of Denmark are being "relocated", so Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be part of the family.

Then Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission. Somehow she must find the strength and courage to save her best friend's life. There's no turning back now (Cover Blurb).

I can't remember when I first read Number the Stars, but I think it was sometime around the fifth grade.  This was one of the first books I read about World War II and the Resistance movement.  This book helped cement my admiration for the heroes of this time that helped save their fellow man.  It also opened up an entire new world for me, one in which I have always found myself being drawn too.

Number the Stars tells the story of the young Annemarie, a young Danish girl who is best friends with Ellen, a Jewish citizen.  At the start of the Jewish New Year, the Nazis begin to gather up the Jews of Denmark to relocate them.  It is at this time, that Annemarie's parents take Ellen in as part of their family and help her to escape to freedom.

Annemarie is a brave young girl, who not only has to face losing her best friend, but also takes her own life into her hands when she must deliver an important package to her Uncle.  It is not until the end of the story that we learn just how important that package really was.

I enjoyed this book just as much now as I did when I read it so many years ago.  It will always be one that I keep one my shelves to return to again and again.

This book counts toward by 2011 YA Historical Fiction Challenge.