What makes a story timeless?

Lois Lowry wrote Number the Stars over 25 years ago. Today it is still a popular children’s book. Lowry wrote an introduction to the 25th Anniversary Edition in which she gives some insight for her book’s popularity. As an author I took notes.

Readers ask questions of themselves. Readers wonder, “Would I have done the same thing? What choice would I have made?”

Readers are on average 10 years old. Lowry asserts that most book readers are about 10 years old and they are beginning to develop a strong set of personal ethics.  They want to do the right thing. They live in a world where doing the right thing is often hard, sometimes dangerous, and often unpopular.

Readers understand the main character has to make decisions. There are dangers to face but triumphs to be had. The reader has to think about cruelty and courage.

Readers make connections. Every generation it seems is faced with the facts of war. Children today deal with parent or sibling deployment. Family members with war injuries and PTSD. Though Number the Stars deals with Denmark during WWII children today face some of the same struggles.

Other things I noticed while reading this book. Descriptions are from a child’s point of view, a child’s understanding. Lowery is able to truly put us inside a 10-year-old’s head. The actions of the characters are age appropriate. Explanations sound like a child. We are able to understand the war, the shortages, the confusion by the things the children want like butter and cupcakes with pink icing. To the 5-year-old child a soldier on the corner is the way things are but the older child knows the world was once different. Explanations from an older child of bombs become fireworks for the younger child to protect her innocence. Even the older child learns of the horror of death only a little at a time, maturing and changing her into the strong and courageous person needed to overcome life’s struggles.

Scripture was never mentioned. The Christian worldview of caring for others, laying down your life for another is prominent throughout the book. Did you notice even the title refers to a Psalm?  He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. Psalms 147:4

There is some strong language in a few places, but I still give this book a 5-star rating for timeless stories with a Christian worldview.