Number the Stars — Chapter 5

About This Passage

This is from the quiet bedtime conversation before the soldiers arrive — when Ellen asks how Lise died and Annemarie tells the truth as far as she knows it. Two things make this passage worth copying. First, the way Annemarie holds two pictures at once: the slippery street and the dark sky AND her father's clenched fist. Second, the three slams — a body's grief made into a sound. Lowry refuses to tell the reader Papa is heartbroken. She lets a fist pounding into a palm tell the reader instead. Notice that the same fist motion will reappear two pages later in this very chapter, when Annemarie clenches her own hand around Ellen's necklace until the Star of David imprints itself into her palm. A clenched hand: grief in one chapter, courage in the next.

Narration Prompt

Retell chapter five in your own words. Begin with the playful bedtime scene where Ellen practices being the Dark Queen. Move into the quieter conversation in the dark when Ellen asks how Lise died, and Annemarie answers about the rain, the slippery streets, and Papa's pounding fist. Tell about Annemarie falling asleep feeling completely safe. Then the pounding on the door at four in the morning. Tell about Annemarie pulling Ellen's chain off and crumpling the necklace into her fist. Then the soldier grabbing Ellen's hair, and Papa moving fast to tear three baby photos out of the album. End with the soldier grinding his heels into the pictures, leaving, and the imprinted Star of David in Annemarie's palm.

Discussion Questions

1. Ellen practices being 'the Dark Queen' before bed and Annemarie tells her she should be an actress when she grows up. The story says Ellen 'laughed at herself, and her voice was more relaxed.' What in the story tells you that joking together is doing real work for both girls? How does this scene help the reader feel the difference between the girls before the soldiers come and after?
2. In the dark, Ellen asks Annemarie how Lise died, and Annemarie tells her about the rain and Papa pounding his fist. What in the story tells you Annemarie has never told anyone this version of the story before? What does Lowry want the reader to notice about which questions get asked at night, with the candle blown out, that do not get asked in the daytime?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide