Annemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen are best friends who have seen firsthand the changes going on in their town of Copenhagen since the Nazis have occupied their town, and now they are experiencing the danger for themselves, and Annemarie has to find the courage within herself to help her friend.
This is the story of Annemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen, who have been best friends for as long as they can remember. They long for the times before the war and before the Nazis occupied Copenhagen. They miss the carefree days when they simply went to school, played, and didn’t have to worry about much, and they cannot wait for the days when the German soldiers will be gone from their town and they can go back to their normal lives which includes coffee and sugar. Then they learn that the Jews are being relocated, so Ellen, being a Jew, goes into “hiding” and moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be part of their family while her parents also go into hiding. She must be apart from her parents until it’s safe to be together again. The Johansens know that what is happening to the Jews is wrong, and they are more than willing to do what they can to help their friends and stand up for what is right. Even Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to help her friend, learning what it means to be a good friend and a good person in general. Annemarie wants to know the truth about what is happening, but she learns that sometimes knowing the truth can get you into trouble, so it's better not to know the truth to help a person to be brave. It is through these circumstances that Annemarie matures and grows up, and she realizes that sometimes it's good not to know the entire truth.
I'm glad I got a chance to read this book. I'm not big on history, but historical fiction makes history more interesting for me. It gave information about how people stood up for what was wrong in order to fight injustice and help their friends. Even though I'm familiar with World War II, it makes it more interesting when I can get an idea of how people might have felt during these difficult and frightening times. This helps me picture myself in their shoes and makes me wonder what I would have done if I were in their situation.
As a middle school student, I didn't read this book because it didn't interest me or catch my attention. The title didn't have much to do with the summary I read, but I knew it had something to do with the Star of David, being that there's a necklace of it on the front cover. Then I read the part where Peter (who is part of a group of people who are helping Jews escape to safety) reads a passage from the Bible that mentions number the stars, it made more sense. As Peter read the passage, it seemed as though he was praying to God and asking God to protect them and the Jewish people as they make their way to safety, so the title refers not only to the Jewish people but also to the people who were standing up for what is right and going against what is wrong in order to help not only friends but also strangers who were treated unjustly.
This book won the John Newbery Medal as well as the National Jewish Book Award, the National Jewish Libraries Award, and the Sidney Taylor Award. For more information on Lois Lowry and other books by her, visit her website at http://www.loislowry.com/. You can also visit http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/lowry to watch an interview as she talks about how she became a writer and about her books. Other books by Lois Lowry include The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, A Summer to Die, Silent Boy, and Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye.
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