Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry

When I got to the end of Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and read the afterward, I was amazed how much of the details of the story were based on truth. Throughout the book, I had guessed that the main events - takeover by Germany, relocation of the Jews, people helping some escape, etc - were based on history. I was surprised that the handkerchief thing was real, as well as the story of the boy saying "All of Denmark is his [the King's] body guard." I can't imagine what guts it must have taken for him to say something like that to a German soldier at the time.
Another thing I kept trying to imagine with amazement was the bravery on the part of everyone. If I had been in their shoes, would I be able to lie straight-faced the way they did? Could I have jumped in the way Mama did, thinking fast and blabbering like an idiot to distract the soldiers? I noticed that a gender stereotype about the intelligence of women came up several times and was used to the advantage of those helping the Jews escape. When the mother was yammering about the casket and later Annemarie acted like an airhead, soldiers would say, "Stupid woman," and "dumb little girl." I don't think any guys could have pulled off the same stunt quite so well. Though I don't like the stereotype, I still think the women of the story used it to their advantage - they took advantage of the perceptions the soldiers had about them.
In the afterward, Lowry talks about Kim Malthe-Bruun, a young resistance leader who Peter seems to be based on. I wanted to learn more so I googled him:

• Lowry's typepad has some excerpts from letters written by Kim.

• Composer Param Vir explains on his website how his song "...beyond the reach of the world..." was inspired by Kim. He also has posted an excerpt from Kim's diary.

• A couple books: Heroic Heart: The Diary and Letters of Kim Malthe-Bruun and Kim, which appears to be in the original language.

• Parts of Heroic Heart are included in Children in the Holocaust and World War II: their secret diaries by Laurel Holliday, which looks like a good resource for further reading about how children's lives were during this time. The diaries are from children ages 10-18 from all over Europe, from Poland to Hungary to England. I'd like to take a look at this and see what I might use in my own classroom. I started reading the preview pages on Amazon, and already felt chilled - to think of being 10 years old and writing "Hitler has invaded Poland. We heard the bad news on the wireless..."
  

In teaching Lowry's book, I think it would be good to search for and read other information to learn more about the war and the Holocaust. Perhaps students could choose one of the things from the book that they found surprising and look for other true-to life examples. For instance, they might look for things similar to the handkerchief that destroys dog's smell, the pretend funeral, the rationing of coffee, the destruction of the country's navy. They could compare their findings to the book.
Throughout the book there is a recurring question of "what is bravery?" and I think students could explore this question themselves as well, maybe free-writing before and after the book about how they define bravery. Taking it one step further, they could ask a "what if?" question, answering something like how they would have acted in a chosen character's shoes or how they would act now if something similar happened in our country now.