Books I Am Reading Or Have Read: "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"

I have still been reading, I have just been so busy that I haven't been able to post as much as I would like.  So I have a list of some really good books that I have read that I will try to review for you asap!  Today, I would like to share "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" written by, John Boyne.  This book won the Young Reader's Choice Award and there is no doubt in my mind that it should have.

A little over 200 pages, the reader will find themselves unable to put this book down for long.  And those of you who have read my book reviews know that I LOVE that sort of book.  The setting of "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" begins in Berlin 1942 and then travels to Poland.  I'm sure reading this, you can suspect what the story is about.  It is about the Jewish concentration camps but this book sees everything from a child's perspective.

Bruno (a nine year old boy), the main character, returns from school one day to find his family packing up to quickly move to a faraway place; a place known as "Out With".  He is confronted with leaving his grandparents, all of his friends and his lovely big house.  He finds out they are moving because of his father's job, a German officer,  and he is none too happy about it.  As the story unfolds, the reader soon realizes that "Out With" is actually Auschwitz and his father's boss who made them move to this desolate place, "The Fury" is actually The Fuhrer.

Although Bruno's sister, who is a few years older than him, makes the move also, Bruno is terribly lonely.  He has a tutor who comes to see to his educattion him but mostly he looks out his bedroom window and wonders what goes on behind the tall fence that surrounds their property, where he can see people all dressed alike in striped pajamas.

One day Bruno decides to explore and makes his way to the fence and meets another young boy who he befriends through the fence.  He doesn't understand why they cannot be on the same side of the fence and play together.  And as this friendship continues, Bruno become more and more curious about the life of this boy.  Enough so that one day he crosses over to the other side,

"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is a story of the Holocaust seen through the eyes of a child.  One that you will not soon forget nor should we.  It is a book that I would recommend adolescents read and there is actually a teacher's guide for classroom use.  This story describes the atrocities of the Jewish concentration camps.  Reading this book offers the opportunity to teach students about the Holocaust and what a terrible time in history this was for the Jewish people.  Saying all of that, I would also recommend adults reading this book as well because as I said before, it was given the Young Reader's Choice Award.  Any book that has been given an award is worthy of everyone reading.  It is a quick read and I believe anyone who reads it will be impacted by doing so.
                                                             HAPPY READING!!!