Number the Stars was first published in 1989, when Lowry was already an established children's author, noted for A Summer to Die and the Anastasia Krupnik books. Number the Stars, however, takes a very different tone from some of Lowry's previous work.
The novel tells the story of Annemarie Johansen, a Danish ten-year-old living in Copenhagen during World War II, and her best friend, Ellen Rosen. When the Nazi occupation threatens Ellen and her family, Annemarie and her family step in to help them escape the country, hiding in fishing boats to cross the sea to Sweden. Ultimately, though, when a final obstacle meets the family's escape, Annemarie herself is called upon to return an...
