Number the Stars Lies and Deceit Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

She realized too, with an icy feeling, why Papa had torn them [the baby pictures] from the book. At the bottom of each page, below the photograph itself, was written the date. And the real Lise Johansen had been born twenty-one years earlier. (5.69)

Quick thinking, Dad. Annemarie's father knows that he has to lie to save his family's life. As far as ethical dilemmas go, this one isn't too tough.

Quote #5

"If only I go with the girls, it will be safer. They are unlikely to suspect a woman and her children. But if they are watching us—if they see all of us leave? If they are aware that the apartment is empty, that you don't go to your office this morning? Then they will know. Then it will be dangerous. I am not afraid to go alone." (6.16)

Normally, we'd consider this kind of elaborate scheming to be a little sketchy or at least worthy of a heist movie. But in this case, we're totally on their side. Number the Stars really has a way of making us look at things from a new angle.

Quote #6

"Mama has never lied to me before. Never. But I know there is no Great-aunt Birte. Never once, in all the stories I've heard, in all the old pictures I've seen, has there been a Great-aunt Birte." (9.8)

Wait a second. Mama has never lied to her before? We learn later that this is very far from the truth. But because we get everything through the lens of Annemarie, we think this is Mama's first transgression, too.