It was a time of change. It was time of anarchy, a time of war…

Nine year-old Bruno’s life changed the day he came home from school to find his maid packing his belongings into boxes, even the things he’d hidden at the back of his wardrobe that belonged to him and were nobody else’s business. Little did Bruno know that within those boxes were the remains of his life in Berlin. Bruno and his family have been required by the all powerful ‘Fury’ to leave their home, their friends and their life and move to a miserable place, where there are no other kids to play with and no secret crevices in their house to explore, to ‘Out-With’. But there is something going on at ‘Out-With’ that Bruno doesn’t know about. Why is there a fence? Who are those people in the striped pyjamas on the other side? What are they doing there? These are all questions that Bruno is faced with and one day he decides to explore and find out.

I really enjoyed this book ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ because it is a story that captivates your mind and keeps you guessing what is going to happen next. John Boyne’s writing technique and use of words takes you back in time and makes you feel like you are experiencing life in that period of time and puts you in the shoes of the people who lived back then.

I recommend this book to young teens of any gender between the ages of 11 and 15 who are interested in exciting and suspenseful novels. This book is truly a great book and I think everyone should give it a read. I rate the book ‘The Boy in Striped Pyjamas’ 3 out of 5 stars. Ciara, Year 9.

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‘The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne

Powerful, interesting, brutal and depressing are just some of the words that describe how this book impacted on me and I believe it is due to this mix of emotions which makes the reader so intrigued to read on.

The story is set in Berlin, Germany where the five characters live happily as a family.  The main character the book is centred on, Bruno, is a nine year old boy.  He has an older sister Gretel who Bruno thinks is a hopeless case, a Father who is one of the main Generals of the Nazi Army, his Mother and also the Housemaid who was brought into the family by the Father when she was three years old.

The story starts with Bruno arriving home from school one day to see his belongings packed away in large suitcases.  He later finds out he has to move to another location away from Berlin with his family, leaving his friends and school behind.   After arriving at his new destination he soon realises that it is quite remote and dull with no other children to play with.  Bruno spends many days before attending school looking out the window near his bedroom and watching the groups of children behind the barbed wire fence wondering who they were, what they were doing and whey they looked so miserable.

Then one day after living at his new house for a little while, he met one of the boys who was encaged behind the fence named Shmuel.  Shmuel was small, skinny, very pale and had a shaved head, and after meeting him, Bruno would visit him every day after school.  His new friend who would be sitting cross-legged waiting for him and they would then talk for ages about the past and present.  Over time he grew rather fond of staying at his new house mostly because of his new friend Shmuel, but he was happy in the end.

To his disappointment, he found out that in a couple of days they were going to move, so Bruno organised to go over to the other side of the fence with Schmuel to play with him and to try and find his missing Papa.  Not all goes well.

I liked this book because of its storyline. I was interested in what things were like back in those days, and the concepts of how life was.  I would recommend this book to teenagers and adults. Although it is an easy read, it takes a bit of knowledge to understand exactly what is going on.  I would highly recommend this book nevertheless.

Denny, Year 9