Number the Stars: A Newbery Award Winner

Lois Lowry

Apr 1989 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

The unforgettable Newbery Medal–winning novel from Lois Lowry. As the German troops begin their campaign to "relocate" all the Jews of Denmark, Annemarie Johansen’s family takes in Annemarie’s best friend, Ellen Rosen, and conceals her as part of the family.

Through the eyes of ten-year-old Annemarie, we watch as the Danish Resistance smuggles almost the entire Jewish population of Denmark, nearly seven thousand people, across the sea to Sweden. The heroism of an entire nation reminds us that there was pride and human decency in the world even during a time of terror and war.

A modern classic of historical fiction, Number the Stars has won generations of fans and continues to speak to today's readers. Jessica Grose wrote in a November 2022 New York Times essay entitled "This Perfect Mother-Daughter Read Holds a Powerful Lesson for Fighting Antisemitism": “Number the Stars is particularly relevant to our family, and to this moment."

As School Library Journal put it: "Readers are taken to the very heart of Annemarie's experience, and, through her eyes, come to understand the true meaning of bravery."

Ratings and reviews

6. Social Studies Relevance: This book teaches a great deal of history. The author uses fictitious characters to describe real life events of World War II and the Holocaust. The book also deals with geography and can be used as a wonderful springboard for understanding the geographical placement of the Western European countries and their relevance to the war. Students may explore anthropology as they learn about the Danish culture and the Jewish Culture and traditions. Economics is also discussed as the book includes the facts about the business, food, and other various supplies that are lost or destroyed because of the German occupation. Political science is also addressed in the book. The issues of human behavior, forming organizations, forms of government, and many more are all addressed through this wonderful book.

Beautifully factual, engaging yet historical, Lois Lowry tells an important story of the Danish Resistance. The book is very short - a bit predictable and nothing to write home about - but I am glad to have taken the ~2 hours to curl up with this story

Number The Stars is an excellent book to me I love reading the book.I am already on the fifth chapter and I hope that I am able to read more so that I can get to know more about what interesting things happen. It was very sad to know about what happened to Lise and what the guards did to the family's only picture of her.I wish she could have been alive in the story so that I could learn more about her great character.Love Annemarie and Ellen both and hope to find out more about them all. Number The Stars I am giving you my honest truth you read this book and find out everything about the Holocaust and the people that had to suffer in it be happy that it wasn't you because the people that had to go through it are no longer around with us but some are here and can tell us what happened in their lives. Elie Wiesel a Holocaust surviver I wrote a letter to him hoping he would come to my school to explain all about himself and what more had happened hope he could come . but Number The Stars hope to read more love it and hope you all enjoy it to.

About the author

Lois Lowry is the author of more than forty books for children and young adults, including the New York Times bestselling Giver Quartet and the popular Anastasia Krupnik series. She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, Number the Stars and The Giver.