Number the Stars

                by

                Lois Lowry

 

                           Newbery Medal Winner (1990)

Lowry, L. (1989). Number the stars. New York, NY:

Dell Publishing.

In today’s ever-so-politically-correct society, it seems to be a daily event for some group to claim they are being persecuted because of some incidental action that might or might not indirectly relate to them.  To put things into perspective, such groups should look at the people who have suffered persecution longer and in more horrible forms than anyone else on earth – the Jews.  That is what is depicted in Number the Stars.

           

 The story centers around two little girls who are best friends – a gentile named Annemarie and a Jew named Ellen - who live in Nazi-occupied Copenhagen during World War II.  When the Nazis begin persecuting and rounding up Jews as part of the Holocaust, Annemarie and her family hide Ellen until she can join her own family, who are in hiding.  They later help Ellen, her family and other Jews escape to safety until the war is over.

           

I’ve always known the Star of David represented the Jewish people, but references to this symbol in this story will always make me now see it in a new way.  The book’s title refers to Psalm 147 in which God is said to have numbered the stars in the heavens, and those stars represent His Chosen People.  Ellen wears a Star of David necklace, which she has to quickly tear off when Nazi soldiers invade Annemarie’s house.  When Ellen and her family can finally return to Copenhagen, Annemarie has the necklace waiting for her best friend.    

PICTURE SOURCES:

search.rainbowresource.com

yiddelenews.com

brokenworld.wikispaces.com

fine-jewelry-from-jerusalem.com