Number the Stars — Chapter 11

About This Passage

This passage was chosen because it gives the chapter's clearest, most quotable rule of the Resistance: protection by not-telling. Lowry repeats 'If Mr. Rosen knew' twice, gives it two short closing sentences (he hadn't asked; Peter hadn't explained), and lets Annemarie speak the rule from inside her own thoughts. Trailblazers will study how short, repeating sentences can carry a serious moral idea.

Narration Prompt

Tell what happens in this chapter in your own words. What is really inside the casket? Who gets the red sweater with the heart buttons? What does Peter give to the baby? What two groups does Peter divide the people into for the walk to the harbor?

Discussion Questions

1. When the casket is opened, it is full of folded blankets and warm clothes — not a body. What in the story tells you that Peter has been part of a much bigger plan than just one family helping its friends? How do you know that other Resistance workers have been preparing this room for a long time?
2. The mother of the baby finally speaks for the first time, and the first thing she says is her daughter's name: Rachel. Up until now no one in the room has known the baby's name. What does Lowry seem to be teaching her readers about how much trust it takes to share a Jewish name in front of strangers in 1943?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide