Book talk
Author Study
Related Books
Classroom Activities
Web activity

Book talk

"This was the first Newbery Award winner by Lois Lowry. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of reading this very accessible novel within easy reach of fourth or even third grade readers, it's the story of the determination of the people of Denmark to get the Jews to safety while the Nazis were equally determined to annihilate them."

Lowry focuses our attention on the Johansen family who have coped with the occupation by the Nazis fairly well. There are the shortages of course and the omnipresent soldiers, but home and school life are relatively undisturbed.

Then, their friends, the Rosens, are endangered. Mr. and Mrs. Rosen leave their daughter, Ellen, with the Johansens hoping that she can pass as their daughter until safe voyage to  Sweden can be arranged for all the Rosens. Ann Marie Johansen is the one who is most threatened by this ordeal and she shows outstanding but believable courage and enterprise in  helping her friend" (http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/numberthestars.html).

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Author Study

Lois Lowry was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on March 20, 1937.  She was the middle child in the family, and was often on her own, reading the books she loved and using her imagination.  Her father, an army officer and dentist, was sent overseas during World War II, and Lowry spent the duration of the war in her mother's hometown of Lancaster Pennsylvania.

Shortly after her nineteenth birthday, Lowry married a naval officer, and had four children. She received her degree from the University of South Maine in 1972, and began to write professionally. Lowry is the author of dozens of children's books, but her favorites are Rabble Starkey and Autumn Street.  Even though Lowry's books contain a variety of characters and ideas. they have several common themes: connections with other people, belonging, saying good-bye, and hope.  Lowry often uses her own memories and experiences for her books.  For instance, Number the Stars was inspired by her real life friend Annelise, who lived in Denmark as a child during the second World War.

Lowry is the winner of two Newbery Awards for excellence in young adult literature: one for Number the Stars in 1990, and a second for The Giver in 1994.  Lowry continues to write in her West Cambridge, Massachusetts home.  She and her Tibetan Terrier Bandit spend weekends in a New Hampshire farmhouse to relax.

Books By Lois Lowry:

A Summer to Die. Boston. MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1977.
Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1978.
Anastasia Krupnik. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1979.
Autumn Street. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1979.
Anastasia Again! Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1981.
Anastasia at Your Service. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1982.
Taking Care of Terrific. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1983.
Anastasia Ask Your Analyst. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1984.
Us and Uncle Fraud. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1984.
One Hundredth Thing About Caroline. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1985.
Anastasia on Her Own. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1985.
Switcharound. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1985.
Anastasia Has the Answers. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1986.
Rabble Starkey. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1987.
Anastasia's Chosen Career. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1987.
All About Sam. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1988.
Number the Stars. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1989.
Your Move J.P.! Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1990.
Anastasia at This Address. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.
Attaboy, Sam! Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.
The Giver. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1993.
Anastasia, Absolutely. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.
See You Around Sam! Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.

Books With Same Theme But Different Author:

Chana B. Abells, Children We Remember (Greenwillow, 1986 ISBN 0-688-06372-1)
David A. Adler's We Remember the Holocaust (Holt, 1989 ISBN 0805037152)
Inge Auerbacher's I Am a Star: Child of the Holocaust (Puffin, 1993 ISBN 0-140-36401-3
Catherine Bradley's Hitler and the Third Reich (Watts,1990 ISBN 0531172287)
Claire Hutchet Bishop's Twenty and Ten (Viking, 1952 ISBN 0-14-031076-2)
Walter Buchignani's Tell No One Who You Are (Scholastic, 1996 ISBN 0-439-28326-4)
Miriam Chaikin's Lower! Higher! You're a Liar (Harper, 1984 ISBN 0-06-021186-5)
Malka Drucker's Jacob's Rescue (Yearling Books, 1994 0-140-36401-3)
Anne Frank's Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (Prentice Hall, 1993 ISBN 0-553-29698-1)
Carol Matas' Daniel's Story (Scholastic, 1993 ISBN 0-590-46588-0)
Kathryn Winter's Katarina (Scholastic, 1999 ISBN 0-439-09904-8)
 

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Classroom Activities 

Writing: 

• Have the students pick one character from the story and write a journal entry for that character.  In the journal entry students should describe how they are feeling about what is going on around them.  Students should describe what they would see everyday if they were that character.  Would they have joined the Resistance?

• Do a short lesson on World War 2.  Discuss what caused this war to happen, if it could have been avoided, and who was most affected by it.  After the students have finished the lesson have them construct a timeline.  The timeline should include dates of events that led up to the beginning of the war, and include any important dates of events until after the war is over.  Each student should participate in this activity by adding a date to the timeline.

• On a map have the students locate the main countries that were involved in the war. Then have the students locate where important battles or events took place. Have the students write directly on the map and number the countries by the order in which they joined the war.

• Find maps of pre-war and post-war Europe.  Map the routes escaping Jews taken from each country.  Where would they have been safe?

• Have a group discussion on how it feels when someone is persecuted because of what he or she believes.  If the students were living during this time period would they risk their lives to save someone else?  What did the students learn about the war by reading this book?  Do the students think that there is a possibility that there will be another war in the future that persecutes only a specific group of people?

• Examine several kinds of Nazi propaganda.  Discuss the power of symbolism and suggestion.

• Use geometric shapes to construct a Holocaust monument based on pictures on this website:  Holocaust Monuments Website

• Use geometric shapes to construct a Star of David

• Use Popsicle sticks to make a Star of David to display on a bulletin board.

Teacher Resources

Activities and Related Books

Lesson Plans

Extension to the Novel

Number the Stars Lesson Plan

Number the Stars Web Quest

Activities and Related Readings

Chapter Questions

Novel Study Guide

A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust
 
 

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Web activity 

    The Danish Resistance was able to smuggle 7,000 Jews to safety in Sweden. Have the students use the following websites to find out more about this group, and read about their many gallant efforts to rescue the Jews.

• http://www.jewishsf.com/bk951020/sfadane.htm
• http://www.denmarkemb.org/okt43.htm
• http://www.Saddleback.cc.ca.us/div/la/neh/holo.htm
• http://www.peachtree-online.com/Yellow_Star_no_art/Kids/escape.htm
• http://www.senioraccess.org/dyby.html
• http://auschwitz.dk/Denmark.htm