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Monday, May 18, 2009

Number the Stars

Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry
audio book: 2.75 hours

I listened to this at work one afternoon last week and really enjoyed it. This young adult book is set during World War II in Denmark. The brief story unfolds through the eyes of a young girl named Annemarie whose best friend is Jewish. As Holocaust-era stories go, this is a very tame one. It deals with difficult subjects in a child-friendly way, never going too deep but always with an undercurrent of trouble or confusion. I think it would be an excellent introduction to the time period for a young reader, perhaps progressing to The Diary of Anne Frank afterward.

This also counts toward the War Through the Generations - WWII reading challenge.

15 comments:

bermudaonion said...

I agree - This is an excellent book for young readers to be introduced to World War II.

CJ said...

I think I have this in my TBR pile. I need to check and see. It sounds interesting.

cjh

Amy said...

I love this book! I used it as a class book with my 6th graders and it had just enough information to spark conversation, get them involved with the characters, and get a sense of the time period without becoming overwhelmed with the topic.

Violet said...

Wow...this book sounds really good. And I love the cover. Looks like it's really short.

Rebecca Reid said...

I loved this book when I was a kid!

chrisa511 said...

This is one that I've been saying I'm going to read for like 10 years now :p and it's not even long!! I swear I'm going to read it one day though, lol.

NathanKP said...

"Number the Stars" is a pretty good book, but personally I like Lois Lowry' utopian/dystopian series "The Giver," "Gathering Blue," and "Messenger" better.

The historical fiction aspects of "Number the Stars" are very good though. I like the fact that Lois Lowry has such a diverse writing style.

Natasha @ Maw Books said...

I made it through my childhood without reading this book and when I read it last year, I really liked it. It's a great Holocaust book for kids, I agree.

Becca said...

I read this as a pre-teen and absolutely LOVED it. Another great YA book on the Holocaust is called The Upstairs Room, but I forget the author's name. Have you read that one?

Anonymous said...

i read this one a bunch of years ago...i should pull it out again for a re-read. thanks for the reminder. :)

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

Thanks for all the comments! This seems to be one of those books that 1) everyone else has read except me, and 2) if you haven't read it, you are planning to. And to think I'd never even HEARD of Lois Lowry until recently!

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

I read this one in 4th grade and it has stuck with me all of these years (20!!). I guess I'm due for a re-reading. I hadn't realized Lois Lowry wrote so many other books until blogging.

Mel u said...

I read this book recently-I really liked it a lot and learned a lot also about WWII in Denmark from it-

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

Trish - This was my 2nd Lowry book but I'll definitely be looking for more. :)

mel u - It is a great little read, isn't it?

Anna and Serena said...

we've added your review to the War Through the Generations blog here: http://warthroughthegenerations.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/reviews-number-the-stars-by-lois-lowry/

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