72 pages • 2 hours read
Lois LowryNumber the Stars
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1989A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Character Analysis
Annemarie Johansen
Annemarie is the ten-year-old protagonist of the story. She enjoys running, at which she is particularly talented, and playing with her best friend, Ellen Rosen. Annemarie is described as light-haired and lanky, which helps her to run faster. She also has a love of stories and is good at inventing fairy tales to tell her sister.
A native of Copenhagen, Annemarie was seven when the Germans first occupied Denmark. Unlike her younger sister Kirsti, she has clear memories of the time before the war. Because of this, she serves as a useful perspective on the changes the war has brought. From food shortages to the presence of soldiers, she notices and comments on the differences between the past and the present time of the novel, providing an access point for readers. Given the significant historical moment in which she is living, Annemarie wonders if she would show courage in a difficult situation, later questioning whether she is truly brave. However, her actions (including running through the woods and confronting the German soldiers) prove that she is defined by these traits.
Annemarie's intelligence is also notable. Although the adults try to keep information from her in order to protect her, Annemarie is perceptive. She knows, for instance, that she has no Great-Aunt Birte and that the funeral is fake. This perception also ends up saving the day when Annemarie notices that Mr. Rosen has dropped the important packet for her Uncle Henrik. In this sense, as well, Annemarie acts as a useful stand-in for the reader: the reader learns what is happening at the same moment Annemarie does.
Over the course of the novel, Annemarie’s perspective is transformed from innocence to one that is more knowledgeable. In this sense, the book can be read as a coming of age novel, particularly as the final chapter takes place two years after the earlier events of the book and the reader is able to see her transformation over that period of time.
Ellen Rosen
Ellen is Annemarie's best friend, and the friendship between Ellen and Annemarie is the focus of the book. Also ten years old, Ellen attends the same school as Annemarie and the two play games together. Unlike Annemarie, whose main talent is running, Ellen has another useful talent: she is an excellent actress. This serves her well when she has to pretend to be Lise.
Ellen is thrown into an unfamiliar situation when the Resistance hides her parents and she must stay with the Johansens, pretending to be their eldest daughter. She is upset about this but remains stoic. Since the book begins without revealing either the historical situation or Ellen's Jewish faith, Lowry creates a situation in which a young reader can easily put themselves in Ellen's place and see the true terror and horrors a young Jewish girl would have encountered in this time and place.
Mama (Inge Johansen) and Papa
Mama grew up on the coast of Denmark with her brother Henrik. The novel does not describe Papa's origins or his full name. However, the couple now lives in Copenhagen with their two surviving daughters, Annemarie and Kirsti. Their eldest daughter, Lise, died several years earlier. The couple has not spoken of Lise in years. It is later revealed that Lise was a member of the Danish Resistance and was killed by the Nazis.
Mama and Papa are primarily characterized by their bravery and quick thinking. When the Nazis begin to track down Jewish families, they take Ellen in and pass her off as Lise, even thinking to find baby pictures of Lise with dark hair to “prove” that she is their daughter. Similarly, after the German officers visit their apartment, they know they must take the children to the coast and debate who should go in a thoughtful way. While in many ways depicted as a “typical” couple of this time (Mama has coffee with Mrs. Rosen regularly, for example), they are quick-thinking and show great courage in helping their Jewish friends and neighbors escape to Sweden.
Kirsti Johansen
Kirsti is five years old; she was two when the war started. She has a fanciful imagination and likes to play dolls with her sister. Later, she is delighted to discover a kitten at Henrik's house. However, smaller things still have the power to bother her: she is particularly upset at her fish shoes, for example, and craves cupcakes, which haven't been available in years. Although Kirsti sometimes annoys Annemarie, Annemarie nevertheless loves Kirsti. The two share a bed, and Annemarie tells Kirsti fairy tales so that she can fall asleep.
Throughout the novel, Kirsti has a hard time remembering what can and cannot happen now that the war is on. Because she is so young, Kirsti asks questions and makes suggestions that help the reader understand what is happening historically throughout the novel. For example, when she suggests that their Jewish neighbors have gone on vacation, it clarifies for the reader that vacations are rare (if not nonexistent) during this time, and that something much worse must have happened.
Peter Neilson
The fiancé of the Johansen's eldest daughter Lise, Peter is also a member of the Resistance. However, he escaped the Nazi raid that killed Lise. Although Annemarie does not know this at the beginning of the book, she has noted that Peter's manner has changed. Before Lise's death, Peter was lighthearted and teasing with her sisters. Since then, however, he has become much more serious, though he still brings them small presents and has clear affection for them.
Peter is defined primarily by this seriousness of purpose and his belief in the cause of the Resistance. He is the only character in the novel to die in the contemporary timeline, showing the dangers of his work. By depicting him helping the Jewish group to the boat and highlighting the great personal risk he has taken on, Lowry emphasizes how small acts (such as providing blankets) can also be part of greater acts (such as taking Jewish people to Sweden and freedom) that make someone brave and heroic.
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