Number the Stars — Chapter 16

About This Passage

Notice that Lowry places this small, ordinary act of competence in the middle of an extraordinary day. Annemarie has just outwitted four armed soldiers; back at the farmhouse, she finds a complaining cow that needs milking. The chapter argues, by this juxtaposition, that bravery is not a special mode separate from daily life — it is the willingness to figure out the next thing that needs doing, whether that thing is a packet through the woods or a bucket beneath a cow.

Narration Prompt

Retell Chapter 16 in your own words. Cover Annemarie's first time milking Blossom, the conversation in the barn where Uncle Henrik finally explains the handkerchief, the revelation that Peter is in the Resistance, and the kitten falling into the milk pail at the end. Track how the chapter uses ordinary moments (milking, dinner, a kitten) to frame extraordinary information.

Discussion Questions

1. Uncle Henrik defines bravery as 'not thinking about the dangers. Just thinking about what you must do.' This is evidence of a definition that separates feeling from action — Annemarie can be both frightened and brave at the same time. Why might this definition be more useful for Annemarie than the picture-book idea of bravery as fearlessness? How does it match what she actually did in Chapter 15?
2. When Annemarie learns that Peter is in the Resistance, she says, 'Of course! I should have known!' The text suggests that she now sees a pattern in Peter's behavior — the secret newspaper, his constant moving — that she did not recognize before. What does this moment of pattern recognition show about how Annemarie's understanding of the adult world has matured across the book?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide