Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

from goodreads

5 stars

There are some books that quite frankly I am embarrassed I haven't read yet. Many are books from my tween years that never seemed to have made it onto my stacks. Number the Stars is one of those books. I can't believe it has taken me over two decades to finally read it. I love The Giver and have read the rest of the books in that series, but for some reason I never made this one a priority.

When I made my books-I-want-to-read list for the year I made sure I put it on. I was not about to go through another year without reading it. What books do you have on your list that is like this. Are there any other books that you feel guilty or embarrassed about not reading yet?

Synopsis

Annemarie lives in Denmark. When her best friend's family need to hide she and her family need to be brave to help save them from the Nazis.

My Thoughts

I really enjoyed this book. It is a quick yet powerful read.

This is a great book to use as an introduction to the Holocaust and WWII. Much of the writings about WWII are either about France or Russia or Poland and the occupations that happened there. It always intrigues me and makes me want to do more research when I read a book that is set in a different/less popular occupied country such as Denmark. It is interesting to learn about how each of the occupied countries had different ways in which they dealt with the occupation. None of them are better or worse just different. Each country seemed to be dealt different cards and had to figure out what to do with them.

While it doesn't go in depth you still feel the stress of the situation, the confusion of the situation and the hope that things will get better and work out.

If you haven't read this in a while or haven't read it yet I encourage you to do so. It is always good to reflect. This book would be good for kids 10 and up.