Lois Lowry

In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be courageous and resourceful as she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis. Reprint. Newbery Medal Winner. AB. SLJ. K. H.

Number the Stars

𝚕𝚒𝚕𝚢

4 ★ - (really liked it)

It's been awhile since I read this so I can't give an exact review but gosh all of these WW2 stories hit hard. 

CWs, or things that caught my attention: mentions of death, nazis

chloe rae

What an incredibly profound and moving little book. It may only be 130 pages, but it packs a punch. I loved this! I loved the fresh perspective that Annemarie gave on WW2 and what it means to be brave. My co-worker gave me this to read and I’m so glad she did. Such a great story.

Geoffrey Froggatt

Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think of life before the war. It's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are "relocated," Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be one of the family. Soon Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to save Ellen's life. Content warning for antisemitism, war and genocide. A simplistic way of introducing young people to the Holocaust, focusing on the power of friendship, love and courage. This would be a great story to have all children read when discussing WWII and the Holocaust. This story gives a glimpse into what it was like to be child growing up Europe during this period. Students could get so much more out of this book rather than reading about the Holocaust in a textbook. Although this story had a positive ending, you have to remind yourself that this was not the case most of the time. This is such a terrible part of history, but everyone should know about it to prevent it from happening again.

It is 1943 and for 10 year old Annemarie life is still fun. But there are worries too - the Nazis have occupied Copenhagen and there are food shortages, curfews and the threat of being stopped by soldiers and Annemarie's best friend is a Jew.

Raven K

I have no idea why I put this off for so long.

Siya S

Probably one of the first English books I finished as a child, meaning the language was easy with a story compelling enough to urge me to continue until the end.

Isabel Nelson

I was only nine when I read this, but it still had me in tears. For me, I was trying to put myself in Annemarie's situation, and for a girl who grew up in an equal society in North America, I found this exceptionally hard. A good read, but have tissues standing by.

linda

Kay Jamieson

This book left an impact. I would recommend this to anyone!

Ana Cob

What a great book! It made me wish I were ten, reading it, and falling in love with books! I felt the same way with "The giver".

Libby G

my third grade teacher interduced me to this book and i fell in love with it. the story is fun and loving and heart warming

Caroline Lewicki

A wonderful, hopeful book about World War 2 but from a perspective not often seen. Annemarie lives in Denmark during the Nazi occupation of Denmark and she must learn to be brave in the face of adversity. Important for anyone to read!

Heather Heaton

What a beautiful book to depict the holocaust and bring it to kids in an accessible but impactful way. This was heartbreaking and harrowing, but also managed to fill me with hope. I think that my fave part of this book was learning and thinking about all the people that worked hard to help the Jewish people during the holocaust even at their own risk.

Hannah Myhre

I couldn’t put it down, read it in one hour. This book gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes, both happy and sad.

Earlier today I walked into a second hand bookstore and since I’m Norwegian I was attracted to the danish story since Scandinavians stock together. I’m so happy I bought it. This book shows the importance of bravery and trust in a time of history when trust and bravery were nowhere to be found. It’s viewed from a young girls point of view, which means you understand more than the protagonist, if you know a bit about the Second World War, which makes this story even more chilling and sad. And even though it tells the story of one of the darkest periods of history, and even though we see young children learning about the horrors of the holocaust whilst living it, this story is not a sad one but rather a reminder of all the brave resistance in not only Denmark, but all over Europe.

Number the Stars

Reviews