The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a historical fiction novel written by John Boyne.  This book is based on a boy named Bruno who is forced to move away from his home due to a promotion that his father received from work.  Bruno soon finds himself a new friend in Shmuel who is stuck with an unfortunate fate as Bruno learns Shmuel is confined to a concentration camp.  Trying to save Shmuel, Bruno finds himself facing the exact same fate of being placed in a gas chamber to die.  The story told in this book, based on facts of a historical event during the times of concentration camps and gas chambers, allows readers to understand what exactly happened during the Holocaust and gives a small insight to what it was like to be on both the outside and inside.  Novels like this one are The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank and Night by Elie Wiesel.

Classroom Activities:

1.)  Have the children write a letter to a Holocaust survivor and send them to the survivors.  Or if there are no more survivors, have them write to the families of the survivors.  Allow them to ask questions asking if the survivors or their families members remember stories of the Holocaust and what it was like.

2.)  Children can write a short story of what they feel like Shmuel went through during his short time at the Concentration Camp or about what they believe Bruno's life was like based on what was described in the book.  After this, you can show the children the movie adaptation of the book and have a discussion of if they portrayed each character's lives correctly or what they thought was different in the book and the movie.

Goals:

• Help students understand the importance of moments in history like the Holocaust as well as helping students to understand what Holocaust survivors went through.

Bibliography:

Boyne, J. (2006). The boy in the striped pajamas. New York: David Fickling Books.