High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Number the Stars is a work of historical fiction about the Holocaust of the Second World War by award-winning author Lois Lowry. The story centers around ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen, who lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1943 and was caught up in the events surrounding the rescue of the Danish Jews. She and her family risked their lives to help Annemarie`s best friend, Ellen Rosen, by pretending that Ellen is Annemarie`s older sister. Annemarie`s older sister had died earlier in the war as a result of her work with the Danish Resistance. The story`s title is taken from a reference to Psalm 147, in which the writer of the book relates that God has numbered all the stars in the universe. It is meant to tie into the Star of David, specifically to Ellen`s necklace (Ellen is Jewish), which is symbolic to the story.