The Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

The Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

If you decide to read this book, you will go on a journey with a boy named Bruno, who is nine years old. And sooner or later you will come to a stop and arrive at the fence with Bruno.  During the Holocaust, Bruno lives in Berlin with his mother, father, and sister, Gretel. They are shortly moved to a new home where father can continue his work next to a concentration camp. Bruno, being young can’t understand why he and his family are leaving; yet he has to leave his hometown and his friends, whom he is so sad to leave behind.  Bruno and his family are starting to adjust to life at the home called Out-With.  Gretel and Bruno both find themselves being terribly bored and wanting to do nothing more but leave home.

            Luckily, Gretel learns to keep herself contempt by playing with her dolls, while Bruno has a source of adventure with him. He spots huts far away in the distance and is curious as to what they might be for and who might be living in them. He starts exploring until he comes to a fence, and sees a blob that turned into a figure, that turned into something mind blowing. Bruno is quite puzzled by this and starts to approach the fence, only to find…

Off of a five star rating scale; I would give this book a three. It was over all a good read, but it didn’t do enough for me to be entertained. Also, this novel would have been better if it ended with a happy ending, instead of an ending with a bizarre feeling left in your stomach.  If you are into history and personal stories combined, or Historical Fiction, I would definitely check out this book.

Genre:  Historical Fiction, WWII

Reviewed by:  Rachel Frazier

Teacher:  Mara Pufko

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

The Boy in Striped Pajamas is about a young German boy named Bruno who is a nine-year old boy with an annoying older sister, named Gretel,  a loving mother, and a highly decorated Nazi official father. The story begins when he has to move away from the perfect home and moves to an isolated home next to a holocaust camp.  He particularly does not like the house; in fact he hates it because of the lack of friends and all of the big and scary soldiers always moving through the building. One day, after living in the new home for several weeks, he sees a camp crowded with hundreds of people all wearing striped pajamas. He always wanted to be an explorer when he grew up so he decides to explore out of his house to go meet the people in the camp. That’s where he meets a little boy and future best friend named Schmuel, and that’s where Bruno’s world changes dramatically.

Overall, the book is amazing and, and recommend this book to anyone. This book is for someone who can handle a tragedy and who has background knowledge of the holocaust, and the time period in general.

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Reviewed by:  Alex Brenton

Teacher:  Mara Pufko

Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a story about a young boy that finds out he is suddenly moving far away for his father’s “important” job. The young Bruno finds the move disappointing and unfair. The new house is small and disappointing as well. In his boredom, Bruno began to explore through the new house and went outside as well. Journeying further away from the house he found something he’d never seen before. He saw tons of boys roaming around in striped pajamas behind a barbed wire. With a new friend made from the other side of the wire, he slowly becomes more involved with something that he never should have let himself find out about.

            The novel had good and bad attributes. The book had decent character development and had a good storyline. But characters and a storyline are only part of a good story, and this novel lacked intriguing events in-between the set up for the story (the beginning), and the conclusion to the story. If it were to be more entertaining, either more would have to be added to the story or it should be shortened.

            Out of five stars, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas would make 2 stars. If an interesting storyline is enough to occupy you as a reader, then you could probably enjoy it through how the story unfolds. But if you lack patience for lengthy chapters centered on one event then it’s hard to read through until you get closer to the end of the novel.

 

Genre: Historical Fiction, WWII
Reviewed by: Cord Bates
Teacher: Mara Pufko

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

This story is about a young boy named Bruno whose father is one of the Commanders of the Army that is taking over Poland and removing the Jews. In this story, the boy and his family moves from Berlin to Out-With, better known as Auschwitz. Bruno looks out his window one day and sees a fenced in area with thousands of people inside, which were all wearing striped pajamas. Bruno then decides to explore this place and walks along the fence until he discovers a boy his age named Shmuel. The boys talk everyday until the day that Bruno discovers that he will be returning to Berlin and will never be able to see Shmuel again. On the last day that Bruno is there, he finally convinces Shmuel to take Bruno inside the fence. This day however, turns out very wrong as the two boys try to find Shmuel’s father.

I would give this book a four and a half out of five stars because it is well written, but is a tad elementary for a high school student. I think that a middle school reader that enjoys historical stories that show someone that could have been there during that point in history would enjoy this book. However, I do not recommend this book to an average high school student, unless they are looking for a light read. Overall, however, the story line is a very serious point in history and could be thought about more deeply if read by a high school student. The book, in my opinion, was well written and has a good historical story line.     

I think that this book was great because of the way the author put the main character as a young innocent boy. This point of view allows the reader to see what the world was like back then through his eyes and prospective. Another praise about this book is that the story was exciting and at some points unexpected of what was going to happen to some of the characters. This gives the reader some mystery to look forward to uncovering if they continue to read. This gives the book a good pace that can draw a reader in, and making them finish the book so that they will find out what happens to the boys.

Genre:  Historial Fiction, WWII

Reviewed by:  Heather Clark

Teacher:  Mara Pufko