Just Off the Nightstands: Two More

I whipped off two more books from my 7th grade reading list.  The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.  I liked them both a lot.  The Door in the Wall is set in the 14th century and is about a boy who is being raised to become a knight.  But before he can seriously begin his training, he becomes very ill and loses the ability to walk.  He is challenged by a monk named Brother Luke to look for 'the door in the wall' and throughout the book, Robin finds ways to gain skills and help others without the use of two perfect legs.  Brother Luke helps him strengthen his arms and teaches him how to read.  The climax of the story comes when Robin, although crippled, saves the lives of the people who live with him.  The lesson of the book is simply "Thou hast only to follow the wall far enough and there will be a door in it."  Very encouraging - and a very short book

Number the Stars is the story of a girl named Annemarie and is set in Denmark during World War II.  Her family works together to help their Jewish neighbors escape the Nazis.  It is tense and moving, yet it is a very easy book to read.  It has a good lesson on how to be brave.  Her uncle tells her, "it is much easier to be brave if you do not know everything."  And I think, for someone who likes to have everything planned out, it is a good reminder that knowing too much can sometimes lead you to be too frightened to move forward.  This is another quick read - mostly because, whenever I found time to read it, I could not put it down.