Book Club

Welcome to our Book Club where you can read reviews of popular books and comment on them, see our suggestions for books to read at home, at school or in your own book club, as well as submitting your own reviews for us to put online!

 

Review of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, John Boyne written by students in a Year 9 English class, Longsands College, Cambridgeshire

 

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas gives an insight into a part of the war we tend to forget or ignore. It is easier for most people to see the war as the fault of the Germans, but this book shows the point of view of a 9-year-old son of a Nazi soldier, and his misunderstandings of the war around him. Bruno – the child – doesn’t understand why there is a war and why his father is a part of it. Boyne captures the boy’s innocence and naivety perfectly and unlocks a whole new side to the World War II story.

My favourite part of the book is when Bruno meets Schmuel, a boy his own age who is a prisoner of a concentration camp near Bruno’s house. They become instant friends, despite the fact that they are supposed to be sworn enemies. This shows that friendship can be stronger than any war and begs the question: If two children who were brought up to hate each other can be friends, then why can’t their parents, who only became enemies recently?

My impression of the book before I read it was that it looked and sounded like a child’s book. I assumed that because it was written in the perspective of a 9-year-old, it would only appeal to people of that age. I now see how wrong I was. Through the use of Bruno’s ignorance, Boyne brings a whole new world to light.

By Jade

 

Before I read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas I thought, oh another boring book about something that happened over 50 years ago, but as I read through the book I really enjoyed it. Just the way the writer wrote in the eyes of this boy. And the sense of fear just made the book so good to read. I thought about how Bruno must have felt because he didn’t know what was going on and why lots of soldiers were coming to his house every day and why he had to move away from his home and his best friends and his school; basically he moved away from his life. Once I had finished the book I reflected on what had happened and thought I am quite lucky to be living in this day and age and to think not just adults but children and babies were just thrown into those concentration camps and didn’t come back out.

By Josh

 

The Boy in Striped Pyjamas was a compelling yet fascinating novel. It follows the story of nine year old Bruno, in the backdrop of the World War 2 holocaust. It starts with Bruno and his family moving away from Berlin to Out-with where he finds a strange camp hidden amongst the woods near his new home. His father prior to moving became the commandant to the German Army.  Bruno soon has nothing to do and starts to explore the woods soon finding another young boy that is trapped behind a sinister barbed wire fence, only to find that he is there because of his religion. Soon Bruno begins visiting his new friend and we soon learn his name as being Schmuel and that some of his family have disappeared.

My first impression of this book before I started reading it was that it may be a haunting or disturbing novel but soon when I started to get engrossed in it I found it was better than my original expectations. Just after finishing the novel I found that I could never compare such a book to another of the same magnitude.

By Ben

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Our recommended books
Milkweed, Jerry Spinelli
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, John Boyne
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

Other book reviews
Birdsong
Settela’s Last Road
Milkweed

If you would like to submit a review or comment on this month's choices, please e-mail us: education@annefrank.org.uk

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