The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Here is another book that I thought it might be worth reading before the movie came out. I sow this preview and it intrigued me as I watched a young, innocent boy exploring his backyard to find a fence with another boy on the other side wearing "stripped pajamas." Of course the movie is set in Germany in the mid 1940's and one is left to draw your own conclusions.

I picked up the book because the movie looked interesting (and I would still like to see the movie) and I was not disappointed. The book is pretty short and very easy to read and would definitely be a kids book if not for the holocaust content. It is actually told from the point of view of the nine year old main character Bruno and his experiences at his new home in "Out-with." The author does an excellent job at portraying the innocence through this style but it does get annoying to read.

Though he book is far from an accurate portrayal of German/Holocaust history, nor does the characterization feel right for what I know about Germany and the history of WWII, but the author qualifies this by calling the story a "Fable."

This is a great depiction of the emotional impact of the holocaust and how it would have impacted the most innocent of us, a nine year old boy. A book that I will be thinking about for a while.