Author/Illustrator: Lois Lowery
Genre: Historical Fiction
Grade level: 3-7
Award: Newbery Award
Number the Stars is about a ten-year-old girl named Annamarie who lives in Denmark. Nazis have had control over Denmark for three years at this point. Annamarie and her friend Ellen, who is a Jew, get stopped by Nazi soldiers when walking home from school. This startles their parents. Jewish stores begin to close in the town. Ellen's parents decide it is time to leave, but leave Ellen with Annamarie's family. Ellen pretends to be part of the family until she can be sneaked in a boat headed for Sweden. Finally, the war is over and Ellen's family is safe and able to return to their home.
This is a novel without illustrations. The photograph taken for the cover page was taken by Lois Lowery herself. Photography is one of Lowery's favorite hobbies.
This is an amazing chapter book to read with an entire class in middle school. I still remember reading this with my sixth grade class and its great impact on all of our views of the war. This book shows World War II from a different perspective than what is normally seen in books.
No comments:
Post a Comment