Number the Stars- Lois Lowry

In beginning of the novel Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, I was able to get a good sense of what kind of characters and setting the author was trying to develop through the developing story. Lowry does an excellent job of portraying the ever-looming and suffocating presence of the Nazis in Copenhagen, Denmark during a time where conquest spread throughout the region. The presence of Nazi soldiers placed methodically about the city, their constant questioning of Danish citizens, and the closing of shops previously run by Jewish citizens is a perfect clue as to what may progress later on in the novel. Though the main character Annemarie Johansen seems to still have a childlike innocence about her at this point in the novel, there is most certainly a hint that her character will become more in tune with the reality of the situation as time progresses. The author is able to show this potential in her character as Annemarie begins to become more and more wary of the Nazi presence in Denmark, and of the hushed conversations between her mother and her mother's friend.