Such Bravery

Number The Stars by Lois Lowry is a powerful historical children’s novel that is suitable for ages ten years and over.

The story is set in Denmark in 1942 during the Nazi occupation. It blends fact and fiction as the reader becomes intimately acquainted with lesser-known facts in Danish history.

The Danes were a brave nation who openly opposed the Nazis. The resistance was strong. Ordinary men and women committed extraordinary acts of bravery as they defied the Nazis.

Under the occupation, the Jewish population needed to be hidden and then smuggled out of Denmark. During the course of the war, 7,000 Jewish people were smuggled to safety in Sweden.

Our heroine of the tale is a young girl who found herself able to draw on inner reserves and find a courage she did not know she possessed.

We see a schoolgirl friendship between two different faiths. Their friendship unites and binds. It will not be broken.

Number The Stars is a simple but powerful tale of immense bravery. It will educate you as you read. I did not know the part played by the brave Danish people before I read this book.

This is a tale that needs to be told in memory of the six million innocents who perished during the Holocaust.

JULIA WILSON