Despite being a children’s novel, Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars makes a complicated argument about what it means to be brave. Throughout the novel, Lowry creates tension between the idea that bravery comes from knowing the risk at hand and doing the hard thing anyway, and the opposing idea that one is able to act more bravely when ignorant of what’s at stake. She ultimately argues that true bravery is not based on whether one knows what he or she is risking in being brave: true bravery is motivated by selflessness.
At the start of the novel, Annemarie Johansen is naïve about much of the violence happening right in her own hometown. The dramatic tension of the novel begins developing as Annemarie learns more about the world around her—and about her parents’ plans to help get the Rosens out of Denmark. As Annemarie is forced into situations that demand greater and greater bravery, she finds that people around her attempt to help her be brave by either supplying her with information or intentionally withholding it. In the end, Annemarie discovers that it doesn’t matter whether she knows what she’s getting into or not—in moments that require bravery, she is able to face both violence and fear because of her desire to do what’s right.
The first time Annemarie’s bravery is put to the test is the night the Johansens shelter Ellen Rosen. Nazis arrive at the apartment looking for the Rosens, and ask questions about why Ellen is dark-haired despite being the “daughter” of the fair-haired Johansens. Annemarie staunchly defends Ellen as her sister, and through her and her parents’ combined bravery, they are able to stand up to the Nazis, convince them that Ellen is truly one of their own and send the soldiers away. Annemarie knows exactly what is going on and exactly what is at stake during this encounter with the Nazis. Despite knowing the truth, she is still able to lie—her bravery is not contingent upon her ignorance. However, as the novel progresses and the fight to save Ellen and her family grows more dire, many of the adults attempt to shield Ellen and Annemarie from the truth, believing that doing so will help the girls act bravely and lie easily.
Out in the countryside, Annemarie is placed in several situations where she must risk everything for the Resistance’s mission of smuggling the Rosens and several other Jews across the sea to Sweden by way of Uncle Henrik’s boat. The adults around Annemarie often try to hide from her the truth of what’s going on, believing that if details of the mission are kept from Annemarie, it will be easier for her to be brave. Yet through two major plot points, Lowry shows that it doesn’t matter whether Annemarie knows what’s happening to or around her—her bravery comes from a self-sacrificing desire to secure the safety of her friends and neighbors.
When a casket is wheeled into the middle of Uncle Henrik’s living room, he and Mama tell Annemarie that there has been a death in the family—their Great-Aunt Birte has passed. Annemarie is immediately suspicious. When Annemarie confronts her uncle about the phony death, he tells her that it is “much easier to be brave if you do not know everything,” and yet reveals to her the truth: there is no Great-Aunt Birte and never was. When Nazis descend on the “mourners” gathered around the casket that evening, they threaten to open it—but through some quick thinking, Mama manages to distract the soldiers and redirect their attention. The casket is eventually revealed, after the Nazis leave, to be full of supplies for the Rosens and their fellow Jews. Knowing what was going on increased Annemarie’s fear that the farce of Great-Aunt Birte’s wake would be discovered—but did not stop her from being brave and keeping quiet when it mattered most.
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