I am 何灃航 (He Feng-hang), a student of National Hua-Nan Commercial Vocational High School (HNVS), Chiayi City and I major in Applied Foreign Language. The English teacher in my junior high built students’ language skills through reading English books and exposing us to foreign culture. After entering HNVS, I still read English books from time to time. That’s when I come across the amazing novel: Number the Stars, and I believe that submitting my reading book report to Bookman is a good way to share my love of English with others.

The world knows the horror of wars and the virtue of humanity from The Diary of Anne Frank. The diary Anne Frank kept while hiding from the Nazis in WWII was the legacy of humanity. Anne’s Diary not only portrays the hardships of war from the eye of a child but also reveals the transformation she went through from an innocent girl to a brave teenager. Similarly, inspired by the story of Danish Resistance that help Danish Jews seek refuge in WWII, Lois Lowry in Number the Star tells a story of a Danish girl, Annemarie, and her growth when oppressed by the Nazis. In Anne’s Dairy, Anne’s growth can be found in her reflection of war, but in Lowry’s story, she marks Annemarie’s difficult path into adult world by using the element of fairy tale and war. As Annemarie tried to save her best friend Ellen’s life, the interaction of the two elements becomes an important symbol of her struggle to understand the grown-ups’ world.

In the book, the transformation from a child to a grown-up is a long process, which starts from the fairy tale Annemarie told to her sister. Although being interrupted once a while by the brutality of the war, the fantasy world prevails once again, not as a return to childishness, but Annemarie’s way to deal with the uncertain and cruel reality. For example, chapter 2 starts with Annemarie telling her sister Kirsti a bedtime story, the one with kings and queens. The fairy tale reminded Annemarie of the real Danish King, who suffered because of the war. However, as Annemarie recalled her sister’s death and how this accident changed her family, Annemarie started to understand that life was not as perfect as fairy tale—“Papa had changed, too. He seemed much older and very tired defeated. The whole world had changed. Only the fairy tales remained the same” (17). Still, Annemarie still had hope. This is implied in the ending of chapter 2, in which kings and queens “lived happily ever after” (17).

However, the happy life Annemarie hoped for didn’t last long. When Nazi began to round up Jews in Denmark and threatened her best friend Ellen’s life, the terror of war/adult’s world hit home. Only when Annemarie, Ellen and her mother retreated to Uncle Hehnirk’s house at Gilleleje did the scary memory of the Nazi eased for a while, replaced by the happy childhood memory Annemarie once had inside the house. Yet, the innocence, symbolized by the serenity of Gilleleje was challenged when a funeral of a mysterious relative took place. Annemarie’s conversation with Uncle Henrik about the “fake” funeral marked the conflict between a child’s world view and the adult’s. For a child like Annemarie, lying was unacceptable. To her surprise, Uncle Henrik’s response was a question about bravery. This time, the lie about funeral gave Annemarie a glimpse into the complex adult’s world. She also learned that innocence –“not knowing everything” is sometimes a quality that helped her stay brave. This conversation in chapter 8 and 9 marked the growth of Annemarie as she found that “she felt older, suddenly” (77).

In chapter 14 and 15, the element of fairy tale returns and plays a greater role in Annemarie’s mission to deliver an important basket to Uncle Henrik at the port. While walking through the woods, Annemarie thought about the tale of little red riding hood. The story not only resembled her experience but also gave her the courage to carry out her mission. When questioned by the Nazi about the basket in her hand, Annemarie kept telling herself to act like her youngest sister Kirst. As if by doing so, she could face the Nazi’s threat with most courage.

Annemarie did grow up, after going through all the challenges. By adding, erasing and reintroducing the fairy tale element in the story, Lowry tries to tell us that Annemarie didn’t grow into a teenager/adult like the Nazi soldiers. The balance of fairy tale and reality in the last two chapter is the proof. In the end, Annemarie learned how to deal with the complicated adult world bravely but still keep the good nature found in all children— innocence.