Ellen tells them that she and Anne are sisters, with Anne's parents providing photos to prove this. One early morning, three soldiers enter the Johansens' apartment, believing the Rosens might be hiding there. Ellen is forced to stay with the Johansens and pretend to be Lise, despite being half the age of the real Lise. Ellen's parents flee Denmark with Annemarie's brother in-law, Peter. At the local synagogue, the Nazis take the names and addresses of every Jewish family in Copenhagen. The Germans soon announce that they will be 'relocating' Denmark's Jewish population. She is told to be more careful, especially because Ellen is Jewish. Annemarie tells her parents about the incident when she returns home. Plot Īnnemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen, two ten-year-old best friends living in Nazi-controlled Copenhagen, Denmark, during World War II, are stopped on the street on their way home from school by German soldiers. The Swedish girl used for the cover of the book went by the name of Anna Caterina Johnson, and had been photographed when she was ten by Lois Lowry.

She took the photo of the girl used for the cover (shown in infobox), which was used on many editions of the book. Lowry traveled to Copenhagen to conduct research and interviews for the book. The novel was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1990 as the previous year's 'most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.' It coincides into the Star of David, which is worn by Ellen Rosen on her necklace and is a symbol of Judaism. The story's title is taken from a reference to Psalm 147:4 in which the writer relates that God has numbered all the stars and named each of them. However, her former fiancé, Peter, who is partially based on the Danish resistance member Kim Malthe-Bruun, continues to help them. She risks her life to help her best friend, Ellen Rosen, by pretending that Ellen is Annemarie's late older sister, Lise, who was killed earlier in the war by the Nazi army because of her work with the Danish Resistance. Annemarie becomes a part of the events related to the rescue of the Danish Jews, when thousands of Jews were to reach neutral ground in Sweden to avoid being relocated to concentration camps. The story revolves around ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen, who lives with her mother, father, and sister Kirsti in Copenhagen in 1943. Number the Stars is a work of historical fiction by the American author Lois Lowry about the escape of a family of Jews from Copenhagen, Denmark, during World War II.

Number the stars by lois lowry