THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS

SUMMERY

The story is narrated from the point of view of Bruno, the nine year son of a nazi military. Bruno's family is forced to leave Berlin when his father was destined to work in the Auschwitz extermination camp. The family accepts the change with resignation. From the window of his new room, he can see a fence behind which there are people who always wear a "striped pyjamas". That people are Jewish prisoners. One day when he goes exploring round his house he meets through a security fence a little Jewish boy. They become good friends and Bruno continues visiting him. The boy tells the story of his deportation and the terrible conditions of life in the countryside. After several incidents, one day Bruno's mother convinces her husband, and he decides that the field is not a place to live with his family and decides to return to Berlin. Before leaving, Bruno visits his friend to say goodbye. The boy is sad and tells Bruno that he can´t find his father, so he decides to help him. He enters in the field and he gets on a prison uniform. The camp guards force them two to go to a warm and safe place. The story ends when the boys fall into a gas chamber and die with the other Jewish people.

CONNECTOR

I can actually identify me very well with this story because my entire father’s family is Jewish and my grandparents have lived it. They told me a lot of stories about Jewish people and everything that happened. I can understand what Bruno does for his friend without really knowing what’s happening, only to try to help him.

IMPORTANT PART OF THE TEXT

Bruno: Why do you wear pajamas all day? 
Shmuel: The soldiers. They took all our clothes away. 
Bruno: My dad's a soldier, but not the sort that takes people's clothes away. 

I think this part is important because it shows you the innocence of children and how easy it is to put all type of ideas in their minds. When you are a child you can’t be really bad because you don’t even know what Is good and what is bad to do.

JOHN BOYNE

He was educated at Terenure College, before heading to Trinity College, Dublin, and studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, where he won the Curtis Brown prize. But it was during his time at Trinity that he began to get published. To pay his way at that stage of his career, he worked at Waterstone's, typing up his drafts by night.

John Boyne is the author of nine novels, as well as a number of short stories which have been published in various anthologies and broadcast on radio and television. His novels are published in 53 languages. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which to date has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide, is a #1 New York Times Bestseller and a film adaptation was released in September 2008. John resides in Dublin. He is represented by the literary agent Simon Trewin at United Agents in London, United Kingdom.His most recent children's novel, Noah Barleywater Runs Away, reached no.1 on the Irish Bestseller Chart in October 2010.His seventh novel for adults, The Absolutist, was published in the UK in May 2011, and was serialised on BBC Radio 4.