Book Talk Number the Stars

Number the Stars
Lois Lowry
Historical Fiction
Amanda Pray

Lois Lowry

žLois was born in Hawaii on March 20, 1937.But, she had to move around a lot due to her father being in the military.

žShe married very young to a military boy, thus continuing a military lifestyle. She had four children and settled down with her now ex husband in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This is where she got her degree and starting writing professionally. Writing was a dream that she had since she was a little girl.

žAll of her books deal with the idea of character connections.

žNumber the Stars, in her eyes, “deals with the roles that people play in others lives.” How they impact them for the better and for the worse.

Author Website:

http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/professional-development/childlit/lowry.htm

 

 Number the Stars opinion

I would recommend this book to use for

all my content areas in fourth grade

because it deals with so many issues. I can

plug in its information to all my subjects

like:

Reading: construct a timeline of events, work on comprehension on why the family did what they did, allow the students to create own book talk

Math: counting years on timeline of the book and calculating how long the war was

Social Studies: WWII and what was going on at the time of the book, who were the Allies powers and the Axis powers, why the Jews were having to hide

Language: allows work with grammar, parts of speech, new vocabulary words

Science: lack of food did for their bodies (health), Stress on their bodies from hiding, how to find out what chemicals used in the package

Spelling: Spell the words that you don’t know

Summary

The story takes place in a time in our nations history when fighting was breaking out all over Europe. This time was called WWII. Germans were invading Poland, Denmark, and other countries under Hitler's leadership. The Jews of Denmark were being relocated to other places (i.e. concentration camps). Annemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen were two girls that lived in Denmark at this time. Their home surroundings started to change when German Soldiers started standing on every corner. After learning that there was going to be a “hit list” for all the Jews that attended a certain Jewish church, Ellen's family was forced to go into hiding. Ellen’s parents had to leave her in a hurry, thus leaving Ellen in the care of the Johansen’s. After many close calls between the Johansen’s and the German Soldiers, Annemarie, Ellen, Christie (Annemarie's’ younger sister),and Mrs. Johansen leave town in hopes of saving Ellen's life. Annemarie is jolted into dangerous situations where she has to lie and sneak around in hopes of saving her best friends life.

Hightlight

 

After finding out that Annemarie’s uncle secretly helps escort

Jewish people to Sweden for safety, Annemarie starts to feel more

and more scared that the Germans will find out what her family is

doing. She does not want anything bad to happen to them. One day,

Ellen’s parents arrived at the place that the Johansen’s had run to

after hiding from certain German Soldiers. The girls were so happy,

but then the mood grew tense once more when they found out that

Ellen and her parents were to leave that night in the dark for Sweden.

Annemarie’s uncles boat was the vessel that was going to be used for

the mission, and it was the job of Mrs. Johansen to take a very special

basket to the boat. However, on the way back, Mrs. Johansen figures

out that not all of the package was taken. Annemarie must hurry to the

ship to give her uncle the package that will safely escort her
friends to safety……

Does Annemarie make it to the ship? Do German Soldiers find out what the Johansen’s are doing?

Hook

Does Annemarie make it to the ship?

Do German Soldiers find out what the

Johansen’s are doing?

If you want to know, you

need to read Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry, to find out!