Number the Stars

Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen lives in Copenhagen during the German occupation of Denmark in 1943. When the Nazis begin "relocating" the Jewish population, Annemarie’s family hides her best friend, Ellen Rosen, pretending she is Annemarie’s deceased older sister. As the danger intensifies, the Johansens travel to the coast, where Annemarie’s uncle, a fisherman named Henrik, prepares to smuggle Jewish refugees across the sea to neutral Sweden. Annemarie must face her own fears and navigate Nazi checkpoints to deliver a hidden package that is vital to the safety of the escapees.

Students and young adult readers look to this story for a perspective on the Danish Resistance movement and the logistics of wartime escape. It serves as an introduction to the history of the Holocaust through a narrative centered on individual agency and the protection of neighbors. Readers gain a specific understanding of how average citizens used fishing boats, false identities, and secret networks to save thousands of people from concentration camps.

Clear-cut; an easy read.

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