The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was written by John Boyne and published in 2006. Boyne's title page describes this book as "a fable," with the best definition of fable as it applies to this book being Merriam-Webster's, "a narration intended to enforce a useful truth." However, most fables are associated with animals, so I feel that this story is better classified as Historical Fiction, written for older children/younger teens in my opinion.

This story, unlike the many others I've read for children and young adults, is written in the third person. Despite the third person perspective, it is mostly focused on the young German boy named Bruno, whose family has recently been forced to move to a place that Bruno calls "Out-With" being incapable of pronouncing it's actual name, which is never given in the book, but which I believe is probably Auschwitz as it sounds similar and is also located in Poland. The family moves because his father has been promoted to Commandant by "the Fury" (Hitler) in the German Army.  Bruno hates the move as the family is located in a house with no neighbors, which means no other children to play with. Outside Bruno's window, he can see a large wire fence with people beyond it walking around dressed in their pajamas, though he also sees soldiers over there. However, Bruno has been forbidden to go near the fence, which to him seems cruel because beyond the fence is the only place where there are other children Bruno could possibly play with. Throughout the book, Bruno learns things about the camp (it is meant to "keep in" the Jews), the staff at the camp (Pavel used to be a doctor, but he cannot talk about it and is now their waiter), and the people on the other side of the fence are frail and hungry and pale, but Bruno does not understand why these things are the way they are. Then Bruno gets tired of staying inside the house, and he decides to go exploring. Bruno walks along the fence until he finds a boy, Schmuel, sitting on the other side. He and Schmuel are the same age; they even share a birthday. They discover that they both have a lot in common, but Schmuel is hungry and small, and Bruno is well fed and strong, They form a friendship, and Bruno brings him food, and Schmuel teaches Bruno that Jews aren't really different from he and his family the way that Bruno has learned and maybe Germany and the soldiers aren't as "superior" as he's been told. The story ends on a sad note with Bruno sneaking over to the other side of the fence (after his head has been shaved due to lice and Schmuel smuggled him a "costume") to explore and help Schmuel find his father who has been "missing" for days. The boys are hurriedly pushed into a giant room, where Bruno and Schmuel tell each other that they are best friends, then are tragically gassed (this is blatant, but can be assumed), and are never seen again.

While this book is incredibly sweet at times, it ends tragically and surprisingly (it isn't often you find that the main focus of the story is killed off), but for these reasons, it is incredibly effective in explaining the horror and tragedy that was the Holocaust. I believe it is better for older children or younger teens because I think there is a necessary background in the history of WWII and the Holocaust to understand certain parts of the book. Also, I think being older might make it easier to stomach the ending, which made me ugly cry despite being an adult.


Furthermore, there is a very good movie adaptation of the book that I'd suggest as a good film even if you didn't read the book (I actually saw the movie before ever reading the book, and I still could barely stomach the ending).