Number The Stars Essay, Research Paper

The story I chose for this Holocaust-based book report is Number The Stars written by Lois Lowry. Its genre is historical/fiction but it’s based on a true story of Annelise Platt, one of Lois Lowry’s best friends, who witnessed a similar adventure.

This book is about a ten-year old girl named Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen during the war. Their peaceful town of Copenhagen is now filled with food shortages, Nazi soldiers and Jews’ houses, businesses and lives being taken away. Unfortunately, Ellen and her family are at risk. When the Nazis start going to all the Jews’ houses and start taking them away to concentration camps, the Rosen’s get scared and send Ellen to live with the Johansens while Mr. and Mrs. Rosen go with Annemarie’s cousin Peter. At the Johansens, Ellen pretends to be part of the family, Annemarie’s sister. When the soldiers get suspicious and come by the Johansen’s numerous times, they have to take action and pack up their stuff and go to Uncle Henrik’s house far out in the countryside. At Henrik’s house problems still arise with the Nazi soldier’s suspicion, coming by the house until it gets so bad, they have to leave there too! Quietly, at night, the Rosens and their Jewish friends have to make their way down to the lake and get in Henrik’s boat to get safely across to Sweden. While they get there with no difficulties, Henrik forgot a special napkin that, if the soldiers dog smell it, it would ruin their sense of smell, therefore, they wouldn’t be able to smell the Jews Henrik’s taking to Sweden in his boat. As you can tell, the napkin is mandatory. As Annemarie’s mother notices he forgot the napkin, Annemarie volunteers to take the napkin to Henrik’s boat to help save the life of her best friend’s friends and family (her mother broke her ankle when she took the Jews to the boat in the first place so she couldn’t walk.) Annemarie gets the napkin to the boat being stopped only once. While she was stopped, the Nazis searched her and did find the napkin but, as it looked like just a napkin, she was left to continue to the boat. She traveled back home fine and from then on, lived a peaceful life once again, but stopped to think of Ellen and her family often.