The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Written by John Boyne

A book for readers in grades 7 and up reviewed by Jackson

        

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a story about two young boys. One is the son of a high-ranking Nazi soldier and the other is a boy of the same age in a concentration camp. We learn about the Holocaust in this book, but in a very different way. The paths of these two boys cross, and what happens opens your eyes to how awful the Holocaust was. The book also shows how many people really didn’t know what was going on.

I read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in school, and it really affected me. It was very good and very sad. What’s weird is that I was glad the Nazi soldier got to see what it was like to lose a child, but I was very sad to see what happened. I know the story is fictional, but it brought you right to where this was all happening. If you want to not only learn about the Holocaust but really feel it, this is a book for you.