In this story, a 10 year-old girl, Ellen Rosen, hides from the Nazis at her best friend's house. Her best friend is Annemarie Johansen. Annemarie's family risk their lives helping Ellen and her family hide. This story begins in Denmark during World War II. Ellen and Annemarie are best friends, yet Ellen's religion and heritage are dangerous at this point in history. During World War II, the Nazis were trying to find all of the Jews to put them in concentration camps. Ellen knows she needs to hide because if she and her family are caught, they will be sent to the camp and eventually be killed. Annemarie's family, through acts of bravery, try to help Ellen's family escape to Sweden where they will be safe. Annemarie's uncle smuggles them out in his boat, Annemarie delivers a package, and her older sister, Lise, was part of the resistance movement (and actually died for the cause). Together, the whole family worked collaboratively to help the Rosen family escape. Without the help of Annemarie's family, Ellen's family probably would have died in the Holocaust.
Book cover
Connections:
To other classroom texts:
Reading this book reminded me of another Holocaust book that I've read: Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf. It was similar in that protagonists in both books were strong and young females that fought against Nazi influence, but in very different ways. Annemarie herself was not in danger from the Nazis since she wasn't Jewish, but she put herself in danger to save her Jewish friend from certain death. Eva was not Jewish either, but her townspeople were all murdered by Hitler becase he thought they were part of the resistance movement; Eva only lived because she looked Aryan (fair skin, blonde hair, blue eyes). She fought against "Germanization.
To the classroom:
In order to keep Ellen and her family safe, each character in the book had a specific role to play. Uncle Henrik sailed the boat, Annemarie's mother led the escaping families through the night to Henrik's boat, and Annemarie had to take the package to Uncle Henrik. If any one of them hadn't done their part, the escaping families wouldn't have made it safely to Sweden. In our literature circles, each of us has to do our part for us to be successful. We have to read the books, we all have to discuss, and we have to be respectful and not interrupt. If we all didn't do our jobs, we wouldn't have a good literature circle.
To the home:
In the book, there were times when Annemarie's parents could not tell her everything that was going on, but needed her to do what they asked her to do anyway. By not telling her all of the details, they were trying to keep her safe. Sometimes my parents ask me to do things that I don't understand, but maybe they have good reasons for not telling me all of the information and are trying to keep me safe like Annemarie's parents.
To the community:
The book reminded me that there are groups of people in our own community that are sometimes not trusted or are mistreated just because of their cultural backgrounds. If Annemarie's family was brave enough to help those being mistreated, maybe we should be brave enough to speak out when we see others in our community being treated unfairly.
To the World:
This book takes place in Nazi Germany during World War II. Many people think this war took place mostly in Germany, but Jews were being rounded up in other parts of Europe as well, like in Denmark. No place in Europe was really safe from the Nazis during World War II.
To me:
I didn't realize how many people were affected by Hitlier's influence. I always thought it was just in Germany. The Allies needed to do something about the millions of murders.
Below is the book trailer for "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry
Synopsis:
In this story, a 10 year-old girl, Ellen Rosen, hides from the Nazis at her best friend's house. Her best friend is Annemarie Johansen. Annemarie's family risk their lives helping Ellen and her family hide.This story begins in Denmark during World War II. Ellen and Annemarie are best friends, yet Ellen's religion and heritage are dangerous at this point in history. During World War II, the Nazis were trying to find all of the Jews to put them in concentration camps. Ellen knows she needs to hide because if she and her family are caught, they will be sent to the camp and eventually be killed. Annemarie's family, through acts of bravery, try to help Ellen's family escape to Sweden where they will be safe. Annemarie's uncle smuggles them out in his boat, Annemarie delivers a package, and her older sister, Lise, was part of the resistance movement (and actually died for the cause).
Together, the whole family worked collaboratively to help the Rosen family escape. Without the help of Annemarie's family, Ellen's family probably would have died in the Holocaust.
Connections:
To other classroom texts:To the classroom:
To the home:
To the community:
To the World:
To me:
Below is the book trailer for "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry