Number the Stars #1

Number the Stars
Lois Lowry
60/137 pages

Summary

It is 1943. The Nazis has taken over the Denmark. The Rosen's family are Jews. The Johansen's family are their neighbor. Annemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen are friends. They are like sisters. Every time they walk on streets, there are soldiers at each corner. While they were racing, the soldiers stopped them. They had shinny black boots. Ellen just froze. Then, Kirsti caught up with them. Little Kirsti, Annemarie's little sister pushed the soldier's hand away, saying "Don't" when he tried to pet her head. They chuckled saying that Kirsti is pretty and reminds him of his own little daughter, and they let the girls go. The people in Denmark were having a hard time because they didn't have  any butter or sugar for big yellow cupcakes with pink frosting that Kirsti wants. Also, they had an illegal newspaper that tells people about what is happening. Peter came, risking the danger and gave them the paper. After Mama and Papa had read the paper, they burnt it. Peter married to Lise, Annemarie's older sister, who died by an accident. The stores that Jews were running started to close. So was Mrs. Hirsch's button shop. The Nazis started to 'relocate' all of the Jews in Denmark. The Rosen Family was in danger. They decided to leave Ellen under the Johansen Family's protection while Ellen's parents are gone with Peter. They now have to act like if they were real sisters in case the soldiers come. They came. Annemarie told Ellen to take off her Star of David necklace. Ellen didn't know how because she never did. Annemarie yanked it and broke it. She held it tight in her fist. This time, the Nazi soldiers were different from those on the street corners. They looked very angry and grumpy. They glanced at the family. They asked, "Who is the dark-haired one?" meaning Ellen. Annemarie squeezed her fist that is carrying the necklace. Fortunately, Mr. Johansen found a picture of Lise when she was little and had dark hair. The soldier tore the picture in half , threw it on the ground and left. Annemarie looked at her hand, with the Star of David printed on it. The Johansen family went to Uncle Henrik's house with Ellen, where they could see Swiss right across the water. Switzerland is free from the Nazis. Why did they go there? 

The main characters of the novel is Kirsti, Annemarie and Ellen.
I will describe Ellen.
Ellen's family is Jewish. She is very good at acting, but her dad wants her to be a teacher because he is. She has dark and nice hair. She is a girl who is polite, apologetic and mature, because after the Nazi officers went away, she apologized for having a dark hair (p. 50). She is also very brave, it would be very scary to be chased by scary Nazis. (p.3, 45)
More about Ellen



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