The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: Read John Boyne’s powerful classic ahead of the sequel ALL THE BROKEN PLACES (Vintage Children's Classics) - Softcover

Boyne, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099572869 ISBN 13: 9780099572862

Publisher: Vintage Children's Classics, 2012

Synopsis

'Some things are just sitting there, minding their own business, waiting to be discovered. Like America. And other things are probably better off left alone'Nine-year-old Bruno has a lot of things on his mind., Who is the 'Fury'? Why did he make them leave their nice home in Berlin to go to 'Out-With' ? And who are all the sad people in striped pyjamas on the other side of the fence? The grown-ups won't explain so Bruno decides there is only one thing for it - he will have to explore this place alone. What he discovers is a new friend. A boy with the very same birthday., A boy in striped pyjamas. But why can't they ever play together?BACKSTORY: Read an interview with the author JOHN BOYNE and learn all about the Second World War in Germany.

About this title

Review:

John Boyne's The Boy in Striped Pyjamas will no doubt acquire many readers as a result of the subsequent film of the novel, but viewers of the latter would do themselves a favour by going back to the spare and powerfully affecting original book. Bruno is nine years old, and the Nazis’ horrific Final Solution to the ‘Jewish Problem’ means nothing to him. He's completely unaware of the barbarity of Germany under Hitler, and is more concerned by his move from his well-appointed house in Berlin to a far less salubrious area where he finds himself with nothing to do. Then he meets a boy called Shmuel who lives a very different life from him -- a life on the opposite side of a wire fence. And Shmuel is the eponymous boy in the striped pyjamas, as are all the other people on the other side of the fence. The friendship between the two boys begins to grow, but for Bruno it is a journey from blissful ignorance to a painful knowledge. And he will find that this learning process carries, for him, a daunting price.

A legion of books have attempted to evoke the horrors of the Second World War, but in this concise and perfectly honed novel, all of the effects that John Boyne creates are allowed to make a maximum impact in a relatively understated fashion (given the enormity of the situation here). The Boy in Striped Pyjamas is also that rare thing: a novel which can affect both children and adults equally; a worthy successor, in fact, to such masterpieces as To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye -- both, of course, books, dealing (as does this one) with the loss of innocence. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

"This novel is a fine addition to a once taboo area of history, at least where children's literature is concerned. It provides an account of a dreadful episode short on actual horror but packed with overtones that remain in the imagination. Plainly and sometimes archly written, it stays just ahead of its readers before delivering its killer punch in the final pages" (Independent)

"An extraordinary tale of friendship and the horrors of war" (Irish Independent)

"In this unforgettably moving Holocaust tale, nine-year-old Bruno is witness to events devastating in their tragedy" (Irish Times)

"So what makes these different to any other set of classics? In a moment of inspiration Random House had the bright idea of actually asking Key stage 2 children what extra ingredients they could add to make children want to read. And does it work? Well, put it this way...my 13-year-old daughter announced that she had to read a book over the summer holiday and, without any prompting, spotted The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas...and proceeded to read it! Now, if you knew my 13-year-old daughter, you would realise that this is quite remarkable. She reads texts, blogs and tags by the thousand - but this is the first book she has read since going to high school, so all hail Vintage Classics!" (National Association for the Teaching of English)

"A small wonder of a book" (Guardian)

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage Children's Classics
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0099572869
• ISBN 13: 9780099572862
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256