Reading List

Reading List

If you read 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and you liked it he are other books you may enjoy.

I Have Lived a Thousand Years: is a book about a girl who was put into the death camp, Auschwizt. It is about the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps and how she survived it.

Number The Stars: is about 2 girls, one of them Jewish and one of them isn't. When the Jewish girl gets caught, the other one goes to try and save her.

The Kite Runner: is about a boy who befriends their families' servant. It is set in Afghanistan and is very sad.

Alternate Ending

An alternate ending to the boy in the striped pyjamas:

Bruno and Shmuel manage to find Shmuel's papa and don't go into the 'parade'. Bruno and Shmuel escape 'out-with' and Shmuel runs away with his papa. Bruno goes back to Berlin with his mother and Gretel. Bruno finds Shmuel and his papa in Berlin. 

"What are you doing here?", asked Bruno.

"I remembered you were here," said Shmuel.

Bruno gives them food and water and Shmuel and his papa go back to Poland and escape. Later on Bruno's father decides he wants to go back to Berlin and quits his job. 

Bruno Journal Entry

When I first came to Out-with, I already decided I didn't like it there. Even now, I don't know why we had to move from Berlin. The children outside are very strange, they are all wearing the same striped pyjamas. They also all live in the same place. I wonder why father said they were less than human. All the soldiers are very rude and I don't like them. Gretel is always talking to Lieutenant Kotler. I don't like him, he seems so serious. When i fell off the swing, and Pavel fixed up my knee, he said he was a doctor. I don't believe him, he is just the chef. I wonder why Mum took credit for it,  that was very unkind. I really don't like Outwith, I hope we can move back to Berlin soon.  

Themes and Issues

The main theme in The boy in the Striped Pyjamas is the Holocaust and the Nazis. Bruno is still a young boy, and he doesn't know much about it. He is an unreliable narrator. Throughout the book, it gives clues about who his father is, and why they had to move. One of the key issues is Bruno wanting to go back home to Berlin. He tries to find out why they had to move house. Another key issue is the people who live next to him. Bruno doesn't know much about it but when he tries to find out more his father says they weren't human. So far in the book, Bruno is still confused and doesn't know much although you can tell from the clues it gives. Other books that are about the Holocaust are The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and The Book Thief.