Chapter Book Bibliography Page

Chapter Book: Number the Stars Genre:

Historical Fiction

Author: Lois Lowry # of Pages:

138

Summary: Annemarie Johansen is a young girl who hangs out with

her friend Ellen and takes care of her little sister Kirsti. She lives in
Copenhagen, Denmark, during World War II. Copenhagen used to
be peaceful, but now it's full of enemy soldiers. The Nazis have
come into Denmark from Germany and are slowly forcing the
Danish people to do what they say. Annemarie is a thoughtful
young lady, and she reflects on how much life has changed since
the Nazis came along. Actually, Annemarie's older sister Lise died
around the time the war began and naturally, Annemarie misses
her like crazy. At least her family still gets to see Lise's mysterious
fianc, Peter. Things start getting worse in Denmark. The Nazis
have begun gathering up Jews and taking them somewhere
unknown. Brave families like the Johansens insist on helping their
Jewish friends, no matter how dangerous it might be. Ellen comes
to live with Annemarie, pretending to be her sister, and even
removing her Star of David necklace to hide her identity.
After a scary interrogation by Nazi soldiers, Mrs. Johansen takes
Ellen, Annemarie, and Kirsti to visit her brother, Henrik, up north.
Pretty soon, they start preparing a funeral for a non-existent great
aunt. Turns out they're trying to fake a reason for having so many
people at their house. Several other Jewish people, including
Ellen's parents show up, too. After the funeral, Peter and Mrs.
Johansen each take a group of Jewish guests out of the house
toward safety, it seems. When her mom gets back, injured from a
bad fall, Annemarie discovers that an important package Ellen's
father was supposed to take to Henrik never made it. Annemarie
hides the package in a basket with food and hurries through the
woods to her uncle's boatbut not before another scary
encounter with the Nazi soldiers and their dogs. Henrik had
hidden Ellen's family and other people on his boat. When Nazi
soldiers and their dogs came to search the boat, they didn't sniff
out any humansthe package had a special ingredient in it that
kept the dogs from finding the people hidden on Henrik's boat. If
Annemarie hadn't delivered the package, they would have all
been discovered. So Annemarie saved them. The boat traveled
safely to Sweden, and Ellen and her family escaped. The book
concludes two years later, as World War II is ending. Peter has
been discovered as a Resistance worker and killed by the Nazis.
But in a moment of hope, Annemarie knows that her best friend
will finally be able to come back homeand she has her necklace
waiting for her.
ELA Common Core State Standard: RL.6.1 Cite textual
evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as
well as inferences drawn from the text.

Instructional Use: One conflict that emerges within Number

the Stars is the struggle between good and evil. Students will
explain how this conflict is evident within society as a whole
during WWII by completing the following chart. On the left side of
the chart, explain how you see good in this society. On the right
side, explain how you see evil in this society. Provide specific
evidence from the text to support your answer.
Good Evil