Number the Stars — Chapter 7

About This Passage

This is from chapter seven, when Annemarie and Ellen stand at the edge of the sea behind Uncle Henrik's house. Ellen has just said she has never been this close to the OPEN sea before. Annemarie picks a single brown leaf out of the water and tells Ellen something the trailblazer should pause to notice: this leaf — this very ordinary leaf, just one of millions — might have traveled from a tree across the sea, in a country called Sweden. Annemarie does not just say it. She says, 'Look.' She is teaching Ellen to imagine the larger world: a sea that connects countries, a leaf that travels, a place across the water that is not Denmark and is not full of soldiers. Lowry is using a leaf to plant the idea of escape. Sweden is a free country. The sea is the way there. And a brown leaf — the smallest, easiest-to-overlook thing — is the first messenger of that idea.

Narration Prompt

Retell chapter seven in your own words. Begin with Annemarie and Ellen arriving at Uncle Henrik's red-roofed farmhouse — the crooked chimney, the bird's nest, the gnarled apple tree, the gray kitten that pretends to ignore them. Tell about the meadow that ends at the sea, where the girls take off their shoes and let the cold water touch their feet, and where Annemarie shows Ellen the misty shoreline of Sweden across the water. Tell about Annemarie picking up the brown leaf and imagining it had floated from a Swedish tree, and the picture she paints for Ellen of two girls their age standing on the other shore. Then tell about Mama calling them back and warning them sternly to stay away from people while they are at the seaside. End with the bedtime conversation — Ellen asking after her hidden necklace, sitting on the old quilt sewn by Annemarie's great-grandmother, missing her parents — and Annemarie noticing that the sound of laughter, which had filled this house in earlier visits, was missing tonight.

Discussion Questions

1. When Annemarie sees Henrik's farmhouse and the meadow with Ellen's eyes, the story says she didn't 'often look at them with fresh eyes' — but seeing Ellen's pleasure, she did. What in the story tells you that a friend can help you see your own home in a new way? How do you know that Ellen's wonder is changing how Annemarie sees a place she has known her whole life?
2. Annemarie picks up a brown leaf and imagines it has floated all the way from a tree in Sweden. Then she imagines two girls their own age, standing on the Swedish shore and looking back, saying, 'That's Denmark!' What in the story tells you Annemarie is using her imagination to make the world feel less lonely for Ellen? How do you know that imagining people on the other side of fear can be a kind of comfort?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide