Book Review

Book Review

Ariel Hanson

    Annemarie is a strong willed child.  She, her best friend Ellen, and her little sister Kirsti are unstoppable.  Annemarie and Ellen do everything together, followed by Kirsti.  They have everything in common.  They live in the same apartment building, they are in the same grade, and same age.  The only thing that they have different, is that Ellen is Jewish.

They don’t know what is going on in the world.  They are just happy together and that’s fine, right? Lois Lowry does an amazing job in the fiction book Number the Stars  telling about Annemarie, her friends, and her family and about things that happened in Denmark  when the Germans took over.

They aren’t scared of anything until they run into Nazi guards after school.  They start to be a little scared but after awhile they don’t remember it,  until people start going missing.  Annemarie and her family start to worry about Ellen and her family.

     Finally, the Johansens get so worried that they have Ellen come live with them.  Annemarie doesn’t know what is going on and no one tells her until her family finds out when the Nazis are coming.  When she finds out what is happening to the Jews, she gets stronger for her family and the Rosens.  The Nazis come and it was a close call for all of them.  
    A day later, Annemarie’s mother takes Annemarie, Ellen, and Kirsti to their uncle’s house in Klampenborg.  Annemarie is happy that’s she’s safe from the guards and with her best friend.  They have so much fun and Annemarie is so happy to share the ocean with Ellen.  The first night, Ellen finds out everything.  Annemarie is sad that Ellen has to leave with her parents and go to Sweden. She finds out about what her uncle does and how much his life is at stake; along with  all of the other fishermen.

The next day, Annemarie finds her mom with a broken foot laying by the path that leads to town.  Annemarie finds her mother and helps her mother to the house, she finds this package that she remembers Peter give it to Mr. Rosen.  Her mom looks at it and tells Annemarie to go run to the boats and give it to her uncle.  

On the way, she runs into guards and she starts to act like Kirsti, who acts like a little girl who doesn’t know many things.  She gets past them and sprints to her uncle’s boat.  There, she gives her uncle the hankerchief and goes home.  That night when Annemarie’s uncle comes home, he tells her that he saved the Rosen’s life.

I really liked this book because it tells about some troubles that a family went through and how they got through them.  It’s was interesting to know how some people helped the Jews and how the Nazis got rid of them.  I thought people were brave of what they did even though they knew that their life was at stake.

   

Fiction Story-Partners

Avra was a green-eyed, brown-haired, fourteen year old with a good heart. She lived on a farm in Guatemala, by the little town of San Martin, with her mom, dad, older brother, and younger twin brother. Her parents were missionaries, so she was originally from the United States. She cared about her family so much that she never went, or wanted to go to school.

 She just stayed home and took care of the animals. Her dad was a coffee bean farmer and had to leave very early and come home very late. Avra wasn’t scared of anything, she had two brothers who always tried to pulled pranks on her, and she also wasn’t afraid to get dirty. The guys from San Martin liked her for that but she didn’t really want to date, and her dad was very strict about that because she was daddy’s little girl.

One day she was making lunch when her twin brother, Andy, came in. “Penelope is giving birth!” he yelled.

Penelope was her horse. She loved her dearly and she only would allow her dad to take care of her when she was gone. She was so excited that she dropped the cheese grater and cheese and raced after Andy. When they got to the barn, she quickly knelt by her older brother, Jose, and started to talk to Penelope and calm her.

Avra tried all her way to keep Penelope calm, but she could tell she was going through a lot of pain. She started to pray that God would help her, but it was too late. Penelope was dead. Right after Penelope stopped breathing, Ava was born. Avra was heart broken. She got Penelope when she was just a foal and had her for six years. They did everything together. Avra even brought her into town with her when she went to the market once a week.  An hour later, their dad got home. He realized that they were in the barn. He came in and right away he saw Avra lying by Penelope, crying.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. He had no idea what was going on.

“Penelope died while giving birth!” Avra cried.

“What?!” her dad questioned. Then he saw the little foal, Ava. He walked over to her and started to pet her. “She’s a beauty,” he told Avra.

“She’s just like her mom.” Avra responded.

“Did you feed her?” Avra’s dad asked.

“Yep.”

“Let’s go inside, then, and finish supper before mom gets home.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You need to eat something.”

“I’m not hungry!”

“Doesn’t’ matter. You are coming inside.”

“I just wanna stay here, with Ava.”

“Fine, but you are coming in an hour.”

“Okay.”

Just thirty minutes later, Avra was sound asleep. She was so tired she didn’t wake up when her dad carried her into her room. She dreamt of Penelope and her riding on the old dirt road to San Martin. Avra was scared of something, but she didn’t know what. Penelope was running as fast as she could. All of a sudden, Penelope fell.

Avra woke up suddenly, sweat rolling down her forehead. It took her some time to notice that she was in her room and that she was dreaming about the one time when she was ten. She had been doing chores in the barn; when she saw someone take some chickens. She gasped and the man heard her. She quick ran to Penelope’s stall and quickly jumped on her. The guy ran behind them, but he realized that he couldn’t catch up. Avra had forgotten what her dad told her not to run Penelope after a rain. She had forgotten and so Penelope slipped. Avra was in the hospital for a month with a torn lung, a broken leg, and broken arm.

When Avra returned home, she lived in the barn for a week. No one could get her out; she wouldn’t even leave to eat. She would just lay in the hay stack, with an old blanket and didn’t care what went on when she was sleeping.

Avra walked to her window and opened the curtain. It was bright outside. She realized that she slept all through morning chores. She ran downstairs to go feed Penelope, and then she remembered what happened. Penelope died. She still went outside to see little Ava. She walked into the barn and right away, she say Avra drinking out of a calf bottle held by her dad.

“Good morning, Avra. Ava has been waiting for you. She’s been watching the door since I’ve been here this morning.” Her dad said,  

“What time is it? It seems like I’ve been asleep for a long time.” Avra asked.

“It’s about noon. Are you hungry?”

“No. Did you bring me in last night?”

“Yep, I came to tell you to come in an hour later and you were sleeping so hard I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“Oh. Can I feed her? I want her to get to know me better before I start breaking her in.”

“I don’t think you need to think about breaking her in, Avra. She’s only a day old and we have to wait until she’s one, at least. But you can come feed her.”

Avra walked over and took the bottle from her dad. She was surprised when she realized that Ava was a fast learner to bottle feed. It only took Ava about fifteen more minutes to finish the bottle, and right after she walked up to Avra and started to nudge her arm. Avra started laughing and saw Penelope in her. She always did that, she thought.

 Every day she would go out and feed her, brush her, and even sneak some apples for her. She knew that she was going to be an amazing horse, like her mother.

The next day, they buried Penelope. Friends came to watch and they were all so sad for Avra because they knew how much she meant to her. They buried her at her favorite corner in the pastor where she would always stand and watch the front door for Avra to come out.

Eleven months later...

Avra woke up on Monday morning and hurried up to get ready. This was the day that her dad was going to let her start breaking Ava. She didn’t even bother to eat breakfast; she was too excited to start. She ran outside and quickly fed Ava. While she was eating, Avra brushed her and braided her tail and main. She was used to doing it fast, because Penelope was never patient. After that, she quickly got the saddle and halter. She was used to breaking in horses, except they were older and didn’t know who she was.

She brought Ava down to the little arena and put the mat on and the saddle, she didn’t put the saddle on too tight so Ava could get used to it. Then she walked her around a little bit. After Ava got comfortable, she tightened the saddle to her size. Ava started to buck but Avra got her calm and finally, she got used to this.

Avra’s dad came out and started to help her get on. Right when she got on, Ava started to buck. Avra was ready, though, and hung on. Her dad and Avra got Ava calmed and finally they got her walking. She walked uncomfortably, but at least she was walking, Avra thought.

“I think that’s it for today.” Avra’s dad told her, the sun was setting.

“Okay, I’ll put her back.” Avra jumped down and started to walk Ava to her stall.

Inside the house, it smelt like potato soup and fresh bread. Her mother had made beans with rice and corn. Her mom gave her a hug and asked how it was going. Avra said that it was going well and that Ava was a fast learner.

Every day, Avra and her dad would go and work with Ava. She was a fast enough learner that it only took a month. Every Sunday, Avra would take Ava for a ride in her dad’s fields. They would take a break at a stream and they would sit there until the sun was setting. One day, Avra was sitting on a rock by the stream and realized, she and Avra were partners and that would never change no matter what happens.  She was Penelope’s daughter and that made Ava Avra’s partner for life.