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Lois Lowry's books
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From: EWRIGH61 at MAINE.maine.edu <EWRIGH61>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 97 19:46:10 EST
What struck me most about _Number the Stars_, other than its subject matter, was how much every word and incident mattered. Every conversation and background detail turned out to be important later in the story. The first sentences serve not only to show Annemarie and Ellen's friendship and to bring them into conflict with the Nazi soldiers, but also to establish that Annemarie is a good runner -- and near the end she must run to deliver the handkerchief. This continues throughout the book; I noticed few details that don't serve multiple purposes. I found _The Giver_ much the same way. I actually participated in a lengthy classroom discussion about the foreshadowing in the first sentence of _The Giver_ alone ("It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened.")
But besides allowing Lois Lowry to tell powerful stories in relatively few pages, the multifunctional details are appropriate for the tones of both stories. The young people in both
_Number the Stars_ and _The Giver_ live under oppressive conditions, where even children must watch their backs all the time. In situations like these every detail would take on immense significance, because it might affect a child's security or survival. With both books, my sense of foreboding grew as I began to realize that every episode was crucial. I started to wonder
"What does this mean? How will it matter later?" the same way a frightened child might wonder.
A note unrelated to Lowis Lowry's books, except by subject: I think the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. has on display one of the fishing boats Danes used to smuggle Jews across the water to Sweden, along with information about this episode of "human decency," in Lois Lowry's words, during an otherwise terrible period. My visit to the Museum in 1993 was the first time I had heard about the bravery of the Danes; I was glad to find that readers of _Number the Stars_ had been learning about it for years.
Beth Wright Hermon Elementary/Middle School Libraries Hermon, Maine (new job!)
Received on Wed 15 Jan 1997 06:46:10 PM CST
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 97 19:46:10 EST
What struck me most about _Number the Stars_, other than its subject matter, was how much every word and incident mattered. Every conversation and background detail turned out to be important later in the story. The first sentences serve not only to show Annemarie and Ellen's friendship and to bring them into conflict with the Nazi soldiers, but also to establish that Annemarie is a good runner -- and near the end she must run to deliver the handkerchief. This continues throughout the book; I noticed few details that don't serve multiple purposes. I found _The Giver_ much the same way. I actually participated in a lengthy classroom discussion about the foreshadowing in the first sentence of _The Giver_ alone ("It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened.")
But besides allowing Lois Lowry to tell powerful stories in relatively few pages, the multifunctional details are appropriate for the tones of both stories. The young people in both
_Number the Stars_ and _The Giver_ live under oppressive conditions, where even children must watch their backs all the time. In situations like these every detail would take on immense significance, because it might affect a child's security or survival. With both books, my sense of foreboding grew as I began to realize that every episode was crucial. I started to wonder
"What does this mean? How will it matter later?" the same way a frightened child might wonder.
A note unrelated to Lowis Lowry's books, except by subject: I think the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. has on display one of the fishing boats Danes used to smuggle Jews across the water to Sweden, along with information about this episode of "human decency," in Lois Lowry's words, during an otherwise terrible period. My visit to the Museum in 1993 was the first time I had heard about the bravery of the Danes; I was glad to find that readers of _Number the Stars_ had been learning about it for years.
Beth Wright Hermon Elementary/Middle School Libraries Hermon, Maine (new job!)
Received on Wed 15 Jan 1997 06:46:10 PM CST
