John Boyne: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

[Mrs Pacino]

Absolutely stunning for the older child (13 upwards I'd say).

Sorry if this has been mentioned somewhere already, but it deserves another mention. I was blown away when I read it. My colleagues all passed it round and generated a series of "WOW" text messages whenever one of us finished it.

It's clever, gripping and chilling. Definitely worth a look for adults and teens alike.

And no, I don't know the author!

 

[jaybe]

I've just read this - it's brilliant! It's written rather like 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night.' But without the autism, just very simply.

A tale of the holocaust from the innocent eyes of the nine year old son of a German Commandant.
Very moving and chilling.

 

[n_maw]

I just finished this book about two days ago. When I started reading it, I knew NOTHING about this book. I remember looking down and looking at the page number when I realized what this book was about and where it was headed. It was page 20. Amazing!

 

[Erika]

I liked the book even though I was at times annoyed by Bruno's inability to understand that he was not suffereing becasue he wasn't living in a 5 story house anymore. I wished he'd paid attention & see what the people over the fence were going through and that his father was not the hero he thought. After finishing the book I came to the conclusion that Bruno was significant to what the people of the time must've made themselves belive during this horrible time. They must've assumed that nothing was really going on, that they were indeed superior to others, that it really wasn't as bad as it was being made out to be & that the soliders were just following orders. It was a very touching book and I look forward to watching the movie soon.

 

[Sofia]

I really enjoyed the book and quite surprised that I liked the movie too

 

[superbook]

I just finished the movie. I had no idea what it was about when I started watching it. It was quite disturbing, but quite good. I must read the book now.