Critical Analysis of Lewis Lowry's Book Number The Stars

I have chosen to write an analysis on the book Number the Stars by Lewis Lowry. This novel is written in a historical children’s critical approach to society. The conflict of this novel that I have chosen to write about is written in a man vs society view. The main conflict of the story that I would like to focus on is the relocation of the Denmark’s Jews by the Nazi’s. The Germans have taken over the town and are trying to deport and kill the Jews. This conflict is presented throughout the entire story as the brave townspeople try to help the Jews of their community. This book is a great way to see the effect of wars in other countries, especially for young children who are not quite knowledgeable on wars just yet, and most certainly, the Holocaust. This book is also great to see what children at young ages are thinking during a War. The book is also told from the point of view of AnneMarie, a Danish girl. AnneMarie’s best friend, Ellen is Jewish. I will be talking about the historical background of Lois Lowry, the historical background on the setting of the story, symbols, and themes. Since the story is told from AnneMarie’s point of view, we as readers are able to see what children think about the war in that time period.

The story is set during World War II in Copenhagen, Denmark. Taken place in 1943, Denmark wasn’t the best place in the world. Like most other parts of Europe during World War II, Denmark too, was under German occupation. Denmark is small, so the townspeople weren’t able to help with stopping the Nazis. For some younger children, they can’t even remember a time when their country wasn’t engraved with soldiers every day. For example, Lowry writes, “for Kristi, the soldiers were simply part of the landscape, something that had always been there, on every corner, as unimportant as lampposts, throughout her remembered life.” During the story, Ellen is with AnneMarie when Nazi soldiers come looking for her and her parents, and on instructions from AnneMarie’s father, Ellen pretends to be her sister. The next day, AnneMarie’s mom takes the girls to her brother Henrik’s home to keep Ellen hidden in the bottom of his boat. Once they settle, they live there as normal for now, until the War breaks even. Henrick’s goal is to take as many Jews as he can to Sweden by boat where they can all be safe. Time passes and when the war is over everybody celebrates. This slight overview of the story has to do with the conflict and historical approach that I mainly would like to focus on.

The historical approach not only examines the culture and the society from which the novel was written but also the historical background on the author of the novel. Lois Lowry’s work in Number the Stars is based on a true story. In the Afterword, Lowry explains how AnneMarie is a fictional character, but was inspired to create this story based on her friend, Annelise Platt, who was a child in Denmark during the years of the war. Therefore, Lowry connects this novel to the historical reality of World War II. Lowry talked about how important it was to communicate how war affects children and how they are participants in history as well. This was another factor that inspired her to write this story (Blakemore, 2017). Lowry writes how Annelise “was frightened by the occupation and the events she witnessed during the war (Blakemore, 2017).” The story itself is told from the point of view of AnneMarie through a third-person narrative, but the narrator is omniscient. Stated in the novel, AnneMarie is told that Denmark surrendered to Germany because their country is too small, which is true and which connects to history in a way because the Nazi’s never controlled King Christian. In the story, it is told that he rode his horse from the palace, unguarded. A very well-known symbol in this story that connects to history is the handkerchief that AnneMarie delivered to Uncle Henrick. Swedish scientists worked on the powder that was put on the handkerchief to avoid the Jews detection when they were hiding out on the ships. The powder is kept to confuse the noses of the German soldiers’ dogs. The handkerchief saves those on the boats because the dogs are not able to smell them. The entire setting of the novel also plays a role with the purpose of the conflict in this children’s literature.

The main conflict of the story is the forcible relocation of the Denmark Jews by the Nazi’s. There are other smaller conflicts we read throughout the novel such as the Danes who are trying to help protect the Jews from the Nazi’s. Some characters find themselves in a puzzle with when they must go with what they believe is right in order to assist the Jews in evading the Nazis. The opening of the novel starts with the Nazis taking over Denmark. AnneMarie, Ellen, and Kristi run into the soliders on the street. They don’t seem to be threatened by the men in that exact moment, but we all know their heart was racing when they were stopped by the men. After this incident, the underlying conflict of the novel becomes clear. The Nazis are relocating the Jews. The conflict at this point goes downhill. A while after this, AnneMarie’s mother takes Ellen to Henricks boat to keep Ellen safe from the soldiers. Ellen then lives there with other Jews that they are keeping safe. This is considered to be the secondary conflict within the story. This is resolved by them staying low on the boat until the War was over. AnneMarie keeping her best friend Ellen safe is also a theme in the story that I would like to briefly mention. Lowry portrays AnneMarie and Ellen to be polar opposites. True friendship has risen between the Johansens and Rosen family. The Rosens tell the Johansens that they have to go into hiding, and the Johansens do not hesitate to help them out by hiding them on Henricks boat because, “friends will take care of them. That’s what friends do.” The Johansen’s are risking their life for their friends, and that is a great theme for young children reading this story to realize.

Throughout this entire novel, Lowry displays examples of friendship, bravery, symbolism, and historical conflicts. Friendship lies between the families of AnneMarie and Ellen, as well as bravery does. Bravery centers on individuals as well as the hero’s of the entire nation of Denmark. AnneMarie learns the real meaning to bravery throughout the novel. With the many different symbols in this story, I believe the handkerchief to be the most important because it solely saved the Jew’s from being caught on the boat. Lastly, the historical conflicts in the novel are the main context. Without the historical background of Lois Lowry, and the background on Copenhagen, Denmark, this novel would completely be fiction. The background on Annelise, Lowry’s friend, is the main reason for the making of this novel and includes real life stories about the time period which makes the story even more realistic.

My thoughts on the novel Number the Stars by Lois Lowry are as follows: it is a great, well written novel for young adults. The story itself is amazing and is recommended for children grades four through six. My opinion on this is, is that’s a very young age group to be reading a novel this advanced. I do believe middle school aged children should be reading this since it does appeal to that age group with the theme of friendship, and bravery and the suspense will keep the children reading. Girls especially will enjoy the strong female lead of AnneMarie and Ellen. This book will be great to introduce the topic of the Holocaust and will not be too overwhelming. I just believe that grades four and five might be a little young for this book.