Not Bad, Not The Best - "Number The Stars" Book Review - T.E.C.

(SPOILER ALERT: This review contains lots of minor and a big spoiler for Number The Stars. Reader beware. >>> I am not a professional critic. Don't take this too seriously.)

Number The Stars is a 1989 novel, (written by Luis Lowry), about a young girl named Annemarie Johansen living in the time of the holocaust. This book is fairly short and very liked among reviewers. (4.5/5 on Goodreads, 5/5 from Scholastic, 4.5/5 from Barnes and Nobles, “92% of readers liked this book” - Google, etc.). Basically, the story is about Annemarie and her best friend Ellen Rosen. Ellen is Jewish, and because of the events of the holocaust, she is in grave danger throughout most of the book. Annemarie has to be brave and stand up for what is right to save Ellen and the Rosens. She goes from hiding Ellen in her apartment to hiding Ellen and the Rosens in her Uncle Henrik’s house far away, to helping to smuggle the Rosens across the sea to Sweden. The book showcases how brave and clever Annemarie is in the Tad1m face of danger, and there are many scenes filled with suspense and foreshadowing.

Some parts I actually liked about this book was the point of view of a young girl in the hard times of the holocaust, and this perspective change made for some great scenes of terror and suspense when Annemarie runs into German utube.com/wat soldiers. It also shows us how grand of a personality change Annemarie went from the beginning of the book to the end. In the beginning, she was an innocent girl with barely any clue of what was going on. However, in the end of the book, she is very serious and careful about what she does in the face of danger. I also liked, (and this is a bit strange), the length of the book. Number The Stars is only about 160 pages long. This might be just me, but I am currently reading the Harry Potter series, and those books are long. Literally, the last one I read was over 800 pages! It was nice to have a break from big heavy tales to short, bite-sized stories. Despite the length, this story was packed with the themes of friendship, bravery, suspense, danger, truth, and so many more. I also liked the conversations the girls have. ch?v=K2fu It is honestly a bit jarring for two little girls to be playful in such a serious, dangerous time. I also liked Peter. Peter was like a big brother to Annemarie, and he was engaged to Annemarie’s sister Lise, (who was hit by a German vehicle trying to help the “rebellion”). Peter was cool. I also enjoyed the mystery and coldness of the funeral fo Aunt Bertie. It was incredible how well Lowry managed to capture the seriousness and the abysmal feeling in only a few short pages.

The main thing I didn’t really like about this book was the fact that there wasn’t really a climax. I guess you could maybe say that the climax was when the soldiers stopped Annemarie in the woods, but that doesn’t really feel like a satisfying 7o climax to a story like this. It is unique for a book set during a war to not have a real climax, but I feel like it would have worked better in this story. I was on the edge of my seat around the https://www.yo ending of the story where the jews are actually being smuggled, but I felt like it skipped the climax and just went from rising action to falling action. I also think the payoff for finding out what was in the mysterious package was kind of lame. It was cool in the story and it saved everyone’s life, (and it was amazing that such a device actually existed; that is incredible), but it would have been cooler for it to be something more interesting.

Basically, there’s nothing much to say about this story. The ending was nice, I guess. It was cool to find out where the Star Of David necklace was hidden. I can see why this book is loved, but I can also see why this book is disliked. I personally thought it was a pretty average read. Would I recommend it to a friend? Yeah, sure. I would rate this book a 5/10 or a 2.5/5. It was average, but I can see the appeal. Goodnight Tri-State Area.