Nine year old Bruno knows nothing of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. He is oblivious to the appalling cruelties being inflicted on the people of Europe by his country. All he knows is that he has been moved from a comfortable home in Berlin to a house in a desolate area where there is nothing to do and no-one to play with. Until he meets Shmuel, a boy who lives a strange parallel existence on the other side of the adjoining wire fence and who, like the other people there, wears a uniform of striped pyjamas. Bruno's friendship with Shmuel will take him from innocence to revelation. And in exploring what he is unwittingly a part of, he will inevitably become subsumed by the terrible process.
Accolades
Shortlisted for British Book Awards: WH Smith Children's Book of the Year Award 2007.
Shortlisted for Independent Booksellers' Book of the Year Award: Children's 2007.
Reviews
"Through the eyes of an innocent nine-year-old boy named Bruno, listeners become complicit bystanders, observing some of the horrors of the Holocaust. Maloney's soft-toned narration and chipper, believably childlike characterization of Bruno dramatically bring home the fable-like qualities of Boyne's moving text. Bruno's limited comprehension of all going on around him begs listeners, presumably with more knowledge than the protagonist, to glean the fuller story between the lines. When his father, an officer for "the Fury," as Bruno refers to him, is transferred from Berlin to a new post in Poland called "Out-With," Bruno and his family try to adjust. From his new bedroom window Bruno can see a fenced-in camp where all the inhabitants wear striped pajamas. He learns more about this intriguing place when he befriends a boy inside the camp named Shmuel (who happens to share Bruno's birthday). Their friendship progresses dangerously and brings Boyne's tale to a shocking end that is sure to be a discussion starter. Ages 12-up." Publishers Weekly
"In 1942, a young German boy named Bruno and his family move to "Out-With," a desolate place where his father is commandant. Annoyed that there are no playmates around and that their house there is smaller than the one in Berlin, Bruno decides to explore the surrounding area. He comes upon a fence and on the other side is a boy about his own age named Shmuel. Every day the boys meet at the fence to talk, though Bruno remains confused about Shmuel's thin appearance, shaved head and vanishing family members. This is a haunting fable, with an ending that lingers in the mind. The final words sound a cautionary note: "Of course all this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age." A deceptively simple, thought-provoking tale." Children's Literature
Author Biography
John Boyne was born in Ireland in 1971 and is the author of six novels. The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas won two Irish Book Awards, was shortlisted for the British Book Award and has recently been made into a Miramax feature film. His novels are published in over 30 languages. He lives in Dublin.
