Number the Stars

"It is 1943, and for Annemarie Johansen, life in Copenhagen is a complicated mix of ordinary home and school time, food shortages, and the constant presence of Nazi soilders." 

--- from the introduction of Number the Stars.

Annemarie, a ten-year-old little Denish girl, was living a poor and horrified life in Copenhagen with her parents and her little sister during World War II. She had an elder sister called Lise, but she was died from an accident when she was only 18. They had no meat, no cupcakes, no new shoes and no freedom, but only infinite German soilders standing in the corners of the streets, monitoring them. Annemarie was often badly scared by the soilders. They lived their lives very carefully, tried hard not to be noticed, tried hard not to get involved with any problems. 

But even so, something worse had happened. The Germans started to chase after all Jewish people in Denmark for something so called "relocation". The Jews were being manhunted to some other places, which, nobody knew where. Unfortunately, Annemarie's close neighbor and best friend Ellen Rosen, as well as her family, were one of the Jews that were being chased.

Annemarie's family started to help the Rosens to escape. Theydecided to help them go to the free country Sweden by boat, which stood across the seathither.So they planed to go to Annemarie's uncle Henrik's house first, which was standing coastwise, and then look for a chance to get away.

It wasn't an easy journey at all. Just getting to Henrik's house was hard enough for them. Ellen had to hide in Annemarie's house to avoid being noticed by the soilders. She had to romove her necklace which she started wearing it since she was very small to hide her real identity. She even had to pretent that she was Lise, Annemarie's dead sister, to deceive the soilders.

Afterall, with the diligent helps of Annemarie's family and Peter, Lise's former fiance, the Rosens eventually got to Henrik's house safely. But then, they needed to face another big problem again. How could they get on to the boat and leave Denmark?

In order to gather all the Jewish refugees that came here to escape, and help them get on the boat, Peter organized an alleged "funeral" in Henrik's house for a fictitious relative, Great-aunt Birte, which was not even existed. The people that attended this funeral were actually the hiding Jews, and the things inside the coffin were actually clothes and some necessaries for them. After the soilders that came here for checking left, the Jews secretly got prepared and got on to the boat.

But something important for escaping had been left remissly in the house. That was a hankerchief with drugs in it, to distract the sense of smell of the sensitive army dogs the soilders used to search for escaping Jews.  Without it, the Jews might not be able to leave Denmark at all. They noticed this handkerchief was left after a couple of hours, since the Jews got on to the boat. Annemarie's mother's leg was hurt badly on the way of leading the Jews to the boat, and nobody else was in the house, so Annemarie had to bring the hankerchief all the way to the boat, and give it to the Jews.

When she was running fast to deliver the hankerchief, three German soilders cut off her way. She had to pretend that she was an innocent little girl, bringing lunch to her stupid fisherman uncle, which forgot to take it out from home. She was frightened, but she had to do what she had to.

Did Annemarie deliver the hankerchief successfully, or did she get too frightened and tell everything to the soilders? Did the Jews finally reach Sweden safely and live a better life there? Did they come back to Denmark? Did the Germans eventually leave? I bet you would like to find these questions out by yourself.

Number the Stars, a historical fiction, written by Lois Lowry, tells us a story that happened in Denmark during World War II. The story includes the cruel, sad but truthful history of Denmark, but it also includes a huge sense of braveness.

There were brave people in every corner of this book. Peter, a young Denish, who helped lots of Jews to avoid from being caught by the Germans. He had done a lot of riskful things that might lead him to prison, or even worse, death. But he wasn't afraid of any of these. He just insisted on helping his country, helping the people in it, being the bodyguard of Denmark. Annemarie's parents had done pretty much the same. They had risked their lives to help the Jews to escape, faced the fierce soilders bravely and even they were worried, they had never gave up. And also, little Annemarie. She was frightened by the German soilders for several times, but by the end of the story, she volunteered to deliver the hankerchief, even she knew she may have to face those soilders again and actcalmly to deceive them.

All of them were brave and kind people, they tell us what braveness is. That is, even if you are afraid of something that is ahead of you, you still focus on what you are doing, and do not stop at all. Just like what uncle Henrik said to Annemarie in the story, "that's all that brave means --- not thinking about the dangers. Just thinking about what you must do."

Number the Stars also delivers some messages about love and hope. After reading it, I am sure you will have your own understandings of them.

This book is wrote in a simple language that is very easy to understand, you could finish reading it in a couple of hours. But it's also very touching. I saw a whole different life in this book, and I saw how insistent and united those people were, to gain their own freedom.

"The whole work is seamless, compelling, and memorable --- impossible to put down; difficult to forget."

(公主号：ABBY的小窝）