Afterword Summary

In an Afterword to the reader, the author describes the research process she underwent prior to writing Number the Stars, and delineates for the reader which events in the story were based on actual history. First off, she credits her friend, Annelise Platt, who grew up in Copenhagen during the time of the German occupation and who helped Lois Lowry understand what the experience had been like from a child's point of view. The daily deprivation, the lack of food, clothing, electricity, etc., had all been part of Annelise's experiences. It was from Annelise that the author learned how courageous the Danish people had been under the leadership of their beloved king, Christian X, who did indeed like to ride out alone to greet his people. The story of the boy who told the German soldier that all of Denmark was the king's...