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Lowry, Lois
NUMBER THE STARS
New York : Dell, 1990.
IL 5-8 RL 4.9
ISBN 0395510600
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Annemarie
and Ellen are friends growing up in Copenhagen during World War II. On
the eve of Jewish New Year, most of the Jewish people, including Ellen's
parents, flee the city. Ellen hides with Annemarie's family in the city
and later goes with them to Uncle Henrik's farm near the sea. Here they
become part of an elaborate plan to smuggle the Jews to Sweden, where they
will be safe. The children are told little of what is going on in order
to protect them, but Annemarie perceives some of the lies that are being
told. She knows there is no Great-Aunt Birte, whose death the family is
mourning, and she wonders why they keep talking about the weather for fishing.
Annemarie's mother and uncle bravely escort several people to Henrik's
boat, where they are hidden below, but in the commotion an important package
is left behind. Annemarie must run to deliver it to her uncle before the
boat leaves. On the way, she runs into German soldiers and must talk her
way out of the situation, a task that is much easier because she knows
so little of what is going on. When the war is over, Annemarie's mother
and father explain that the package she was carrying was a drugged handkerchief
that numbed the smell of the soldiers' dogs and that her sister was killed
because she was part of the Danish Resistance to the war. It is only after
the war is over and many lives have been saved that the secrets can be
told.
(Linda Wolfgram, wolfgraml@crpl.cedar-rapids.lib.ia.us,
Middle/High School Media Specialist, Benton Community Schools, Van Horne,
IA) |
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SUBJECTS:
World War, 1939-1945 -- Denmark -- Fiction
World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Fiction
Friendship -- Fiction
Denmark -- Fiction |
© 
Permission is granted for the
noncommercial duplication and use of this resource, provided it is substantially
unchanged from its present form and appropriate credit is given.
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