Number the Stars

By: Lois Lowry

Narrated by: Blair Brown

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.

Critic reviews

“A story of Denmark and the Danish people, whose Resistance was so effective in saving their Jews.”—School Library Journal, Starred

As relevant as ever

A Jewish family in Nazi-occupied Copenhagen facing certain death, is aided by brave Danes willing to risk their lives to save their fellow countrymen.

A young girl finds the courage to help save her best friend’s life.

Exquisitely narrated, this taught and timeless tale of heroism stands as a reminder of what good citizenship means and entails for every age including our own.

Students & I Loved

As a middle school teacher in a sped/rsp class, I loved being able to front load students on a historical topic, introduce them to a meaningful story, and allow them to feel the same emotions one might feel watching a story unfold, each plot element at a time. Some kids fell in love with the topic and went in to read more books and others felt the beginning was slow but powered through. My students got exposure to a mature topic in a tasteful way. The ending made me emotional. The Afterward answered many questions for students and gave closure. I love this book and plan to read it again.

Sad but true

I listened to this with my 12 year old son. Throughout listening he asked so many questions- many of which brought me to tears. How impactful that this story can help bring out the courage of what he would think to do if he was in the situation. Once again,Thank you Lois Lowry.

A pretty good book all round

This was not one of my favorite books, yet it is a generally well - told story all the same. There is not much else that I can say other than pretty good book.

Great book

The book was very well written, and kept us engaged throughout. The story is very inspiring, we have a great debt to those who resisted.