Chapters 4 and 5 of Number the Stars

In Chapter 4, Ellen and Annemarie play with paper dolls in Annemarie's apartment. Kirsti comes home in a bad mood because her mom bought her ugly, fish skin shoes. Ellen offers to take them to her apartment and use her father's black ink to make them look better. She also invites the girls over for the Jewish New Year celebration. It is the end of September.

Later that night Annemarie learns that Ellen will be staying with them for a few days. At synagogue that morning the congregation was told that the Nazis had taken the synagogue lists and had the names and addresses of all the Jews. There were rumours that they would be coming that night to arrest all the Danish Jews. Peter will help Mr. and Mrs. Rosen find somewhere safe to hide. The Johansens will hide Ellen by pretending she's one of their daughters.

In Chapter 5, Ellen and Annemarie talk quietly in Annemarie's bedroom, mostly about Lise, Annemarie's older sister who died in an accident a couple of years ago. At 4 in the morning they hear a loud knock on the door and 3 Nazi officers come looking for the Rosens. Before they come into the girls' bedroom, Annemarie remembers that Ellen is wearing the Star of David on a chain around her neck. Annemarie yanks it off Ellen's neck and clutches it in her hand as the soldiers enter the room.

They tell the soldiers that Elle is Lise, Annemarie's sister. The officers are suspicious because Ellen has dark hair and the other two girls are blond. Papa goes to the family photo album and pulls out 3 baby portraits - Kirsti (blond), Annemarie (blond), and Lise (dark curls). The girls names are written on the photos. Papa pulls them out of the album because the dates are written in it, below the pictures, and Ellen is not 21 years old. The soldiers leave. Annemarie's been clutching the Star of David so tightly that it's imprinted in her hand.

After we read Chapter 5 today, the students had 30 minutes to work on their layered assignments. Mrs. Rogers and I checked each of their sheets to make sure they had the right number of points and we circulated and helped the students stay on task and do the best they could. All work on the novel study is to stay in their pocket folders. They may take these home, but all contents must come to school every day.