Number the Stars

• Genre: Fiction; middle grade historical
• Originally Published: 1989
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 670L; grades 5-7
• Structure/Length: 17 chapters; approx. 160 pages; approx. 2 hours, 45 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend, Ellen Rosen, live in Copenhagen in 1943. When the Nazis declare that they will relocate the Jews, Annemarie and her family become part of the effort to smuggle Ellen, her family, and many other Danish Jews to Sweden and safety.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Antisemitism; the Holocaust; death of a family member           

Lois Lowry, Author

• Bio: Born in 1937; American author of books for children and young adults; learned to read at age three, which allowed her to skip the first grade when she started school; lived in Tokyo, Japan, from 1948-1950, where she attended the American School; attended Pembroke College but left in 1956 after she got married; completed her degree in English literature from University of Southern Maine in 1972; her writing is known for tackling difficult subject matter and is often banned from schools, with her most banned title being The Giver; has been honored with two Newberry Medals and the Margaret Edwards Award for her contributions to writing for teens and has been awarded honorary degrees from six universities; nominated three times for the Hans Christian Andersen Award
• Other Works: A Summer to Die (1977); Anastasia Krupnik (1979); All About Sam (1988); The Giver (1993); Gossamer (2006)
• Awards: Newbery Medal (1990); National Jewish Book Award (1990)