The Boy In The Striped Pajamas

Mary Robertson, Special Accounts Coordinator

8/10/2011 4:44:21 PM
Bruno has led a privileged life in Berlin as the son of a German Officer. They live in a large house and Bruno enjoys playing with friends and spying on his sister, Gretel. After a visit from the “Fury”, Bruno suddenly finds himself on a train with his family headed to a home near his father’s new job. As they board the spacious train, he notices another one and can’t figure out why it is so crowded. Bruno’s mother tells him, “We don’t have the luxury of thinking.” Life at “Out-With” is very different and Bruno misses home. From a window, he can see children and people on the opposite side of a fence and he feels cold when he watches them. One day, he meets a boy named Shmuel who lives on the other side of the fence. Not understanding why, he never tells his family about his new friend who shares his birthday. “We’re not supposed to be friends, you and me. We’re supposed to be enemies. Did you know that?”



This book teems with topics and themes for discussion and no two groups will follow the same pattern. Some starter topics might include: bullying, fear, role of bystanders, blindly following the crowd, ambition, following orders, enemies, fences, and intolerance. By allowing students to explore the story using examples that they know, it ultimately leads to more questions for discussion as well as writing projects if desired. How did it happen? Can it ever happen again? A good follow up title would be Todd Strasser’s The Wave that describes a modern history class experiment that goes terribly wrong.