The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
Publisher: The Definitions Book
Copyright: 2006
Number of Pages: 216
Age: 14+
Genre: Contemporary

Summary:
A boy named Bruno who is 9 years old who lives with his mother and father during the time of the Nazi. Bruno's father was promoted to a commander and they were forced to move to a place called Out-With. Once they get there Bruno gets really homesick and so he starts to observe his home and the surroundings. He starts to observe that in the distance there are people in striped pajamas. Bruno asks his dad who those people are and his dad says that they are not people, they are jews. Then his dad says that Bruno isn't allowed to go around the house or around outside. However, Bruno got bored so he went outside and saw a little boy. Every day they started to meet and hang out. Soon Bruno snuck under the fence and put on striped pajamas to help the little boy find his father. But they werent able to find him. Bruno said that he wanted to go home but when he tried to go home the men in suits got all the people in stiped pajamas into a line. It started to rain and Bruno thought that the men were leading them into this chamber to protect them from the rain. However, Bruno was sitting in the dark chamber with the little boy holding hands. What they didn't know was they were in a gas chamber. Later on Bruno's family went looking for Bruno and found the gate bent. They ended up finding Bruno dead among the Jews. In the end the father said he didn't care what happened to him anymore because of the loss of his son.
My reaction:
I teared up. The book was so sad. It was well written and very touching. It made me very sad because it was unfortunate that a little boy had to die in order to help another and they didn't find the father and they all had to die anyway.
Who would benefit from this book?
I think that anyone who can handle learning about the Nazi's and what they did to people could handle it. It definately needs to be an older reader because what happened to the jews was real and it can be scary to about.
What problems might this book cause?
This could cause a hardship because it can cause an emotional stir in people about the Nazi time. The people who read it could get upset knowing that the Jews were torchured and killed because of their religion.