It is one of those books that just pierce the heart. I
had been fascinated with stories set during World
War II since reading Anne Frank’s Diary and I am
David by Anne Holm as a child. I was always
particularly interested in true stories of resistance,
perhaps because I had been so heartbroken by Anne
Frank’s death – I wished that I had been able to save
her.
Number the Stars was inspired by the true-life
story of one of Lowry’s friends, Annaliese Platt, who
grew up in Denmark during the years of the German
occupation. Lowry had often heard stories of her
friend’s childhood, but when the two were holidaying
together in 1988, she asked Annaliese for more of her
remembrances.
Anneliese remembered being so cold that she had
to wear mittens to bed, and how the German soldiers
wore high black boots that had been polished to a
high sheen.
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry is one
of those perfect little jewels of a book that stays in
your memory for a long time after you finish reading
it.
It tells the story of the Danish resistance to Hitler
through the eyes of a ten-year-old girl, Annemarie. It
is 1943, and Annemarie lives with her family in
Copenhagen and must try to adjust to living under
Nazi occupation. Her best friend Ellen is Jewish, and
lives in the same apartment block with her parents.
When the Danish Jews start being rounded up,
Annemarie’s parents take Ellen in, pretending that she
is their daughter. Together they work with the Danish
Resistance to smuggle almost the entire Jewish
population of Denmark — nearly 7,000 people —
across the sea to Sweden.