The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is the first novel ever written for children about the Holocaust. However, the word Holocaust is never mentioned. When you start to read this book, you go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy called Bruno.

Bruno lives in Germany during World War II. He 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. His dad is a soldier and when he gets a new, more important, job, Bruno and his family move to a new home at a place called Out-With. But when Bruno gets there he's homesick. His new home is smaller, full of soldiers and there is no-one to play with. And he is forbidden to explore.

But his curiosity becomes too much and so he investigates his new home and meets Shmuel, who lives on the other side of the fence and who, like the other people there, wears a uniform of striped pyjamas. Although Bruno comes from a Nazi family and Shmuel is Jewish, they become friends and meet at the same spot and talk whenever they can.

As a result Bruno learns more about where he lives, how other people live and the effect of the war.