#82 in Historical fiction
Number the Stars
- 149
- Pages
- about 2.5 h
- Reading time
- Newbery Medal
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Our view
“Number the Stars” tells a hard piece of history in plain, clear prose that young readers can follow and adults still feel. In under 150 pages Lowry shows Danes helping a Jewish family escape from Copenhagen, with friendship and family at the centre. It works well as a first book about the Holocaust; those wanting a fuller, more detailed account may find it brief, though its final chapter carries real weight.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Number the Stars is a 1989 historical novel by the American author Lois Lowry about the escape of a family of Jews from Copenhagen, Denmark, during World War II. Inspired by Danish accounts of the Holocaust and by Lowry’s research into the Danish Resistance, the novel highlights Christian Danes' efforts to help the Jews escape Nazi oppression.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.1 across 561 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 79% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Historical fiction average of 8.0. That is how 8.1 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.3 | 107 | 19% |
| Hardcover | 8.1 | 454 | 81% |
Frequently asked
How long is Number the Stars?
It has 149 pages — shorter than 98% of the ranked books in Historical fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Historical fiction — and a score of 8.1, the closest to this book.
