Response to Number the Stars

~By: Claire Yen~

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry is about a ten year-old, Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen living in Copenhagen, Denmark. The German soldiers are “relocating” the Jews. The Rosens are Jews and the Johansens, especially Annemarie, are going to help the Rosens escape toSweden. Annemarie goes through a lots of dangerous and risk-taking adventures to save Ellen.

Annemarie is one of the most important characters in the whole story. When Annemarie was bringing the packet to her Uncle Henrik, she was pretending to be a silly, empty-headed girl by saying to the three German soldiers, “I like fish, I like it the way my mother cooks it. Sometimes she rolls them in bread crumbs and- (114).” This shows that Annemarie was brave enough to pretend to be a silly, empty-headed girl that’s just bringing “lunch” to a fisherman who forgot his lunch, rather than a smart ten year-old girl bringing packet something super important to Uncle Henrik. This is a dangerous act because the Germans could have figured out that all Annemarie was doing is a trick to hide the packet of importance. And when Annemarie told Ellen quickly, “Take off your necklace! (45)” she was quick-thinking. If she didn’t say that, the German soldiers would know that Ellen is a Jew wearing a Star of David on her neck. People who are not Jews don’t usually wear that kind of necklace, so if you see someone wearing that kind of necklace, they are probably Jewish.

When I think of the theme of Number the Stars, I think about being a good sister. When Annemarie was telling a bedtime story to Kirsti, like for example, Little Red Riding Hood. Annemarie told her bedtime stories even through Kirsti keeps on interrupting by saying things like, “Why was it called a Red Riding hood? Why didn’t they just all her Little Red Cloak? (107)” And when Kirsti wanted to name the kitten Thor, the god of thunder, Annemarie laughed but let Kirsti name the kitten. Both of these examples demonstrate how Annemarie is a good sister.

One connection is that I also have a super annoying little brother, Jerry. When the book said, “Kirsti had gone to bed reluctantly, complaining that she wanted to stay up with the others, and that she was grownup enough, that she had never before seen a “dead person” in a closed-up box, and that it wasn’t fair. (78)” Kirsti was complaining about staying up late so she could see a “dead person” in a casket. To Annemarie, she thought it was annoying, so her mother convinced Kirsti to leave. Jerry is sometimes like too. Like when he really wants to stay up late to play Xbox, when our mom finally convinced him to go to sleep. Little kids can be annoying, but they just don’t understand things.

I like the way the author makes me want to keep reading the author uses things called cliff-hangers. For example, on page 87 when Peter went to go and open the casket, it leaves you cliff-hanging right there. You would really want to find out who or what was in the casket. Another time was when the book said “It was her mother, lying on the Earth. (100).” Annemarie’s mother wasn’t home for a long time so something was wrong. Then, Annemarie saw her lying on the ground. After, reading this, you would really want to find out what in the world was wrong with her mother.

After the class and I finished the book Number the Stars, I thought it was a really good book to read! The book also made me want to read more, even when it’s already the end. I would love to find out if Annemarie and Ellen ever met with each other ever again. I hope that they will, because friends should stick together to the end. Ellen left her necklace with the Star of David on it and Annemarie is wearing it and if they meet again, she would give her necklace back. This book was so good that I wished that there was a Number the Stars 2!