For the second week of the Children’s Readathon, hosted by This is My Truth Now, we are reading Children’s Readathon Award Winners.

My final read for this week is Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.

Number the Stars

Over the years, I have read many of Lois Lowry’s books, I do not know how I missed this one. This is a poignant tale of Annemarie Johansen and her family living in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1943. Annemarie’s best friend is Ellen Rosen, a young Jewish Girl. When the nazis finally decide to relocate the Jewish people, a high-ranking German official tells the Danish government. The rabbi at the synogogue the Rosens attend warns them. The rest of the story details the secrecy and the plans the resistance has to smuggle the Jewish people out of Denmark, across the sea to safety in Sweden.

This is a story of bravery, love, sacrifice and success. The story is told in simple language for children. It is not gruesome or descriptive of the horrors that occurred, but it is easy to see the burdens and fear the Danish people lived with. This book is a Newberry Award winner and it is easy to see why. This is not a long book, but it is an important story. Once again, I have learned something about the people who survived WWII that I was not aware of before.

Make sure you read the afterword as it informs the reader of the true facts, what part of the story is fiction and some background to the author’s research and motivation to write this book.