Number the Stars

Number the Stars is a 1989 historical novel by the American author Lois Lowry about the escape of a Jewish family from Copenhagen during the Second World War. It was inspired by Danish accounts of the Holocaust and by the author's research into the Danish Resistance, and it highlights the efforts of Christian Danes to help Jewish people escape Nazi persecution.

The story is told through Annemarie Johansen, ten years old, who lives in Copenhagen in 1943 with her mother, father and sister Kirsti. Her closest friend is Ellen Rosen, and when the Danish Jews are threatened with relocation Annemarie takes part in the rescue effort, helping those trying to reach neutral Sweden. She risks her own safety to help Ellen by pretending that Ellen is her late older sister Lise.

The book won the Newbery Medal. Lowry's method is to keep the reader inside a child's understanding of events, so the danger is registered through changes to ordinary routines and the absence of explanations rather than through direct depictions of violence, which is why the novel has been used widely in schools.