Summary
Bruno is a nine-year-old boy whose father is a rather prominent SS officer in 1942 Berlin. When his father is promoted, the family must move to a remote location where there is no one to play with. Bruno fantasizes about being an explorer. On one of his expeditions, he ventures to the fenced city he can see from his bedroom window. Behind a tall fence, he sees a boy about his age wearing what he surmises to be striped pajamas and several others in the same outfits. The two boys realize they have much in common, and while it is obvious to readers where the boy lives, Bruno's innocence and naivete is moving and thought provoking. Slowly, Bruno comes to realize the horrors that are going on in the enclosure and his father's connection to them, leading him to make a dangerous choice in the end.
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Critique
The messages of this moving Holocaust novel are timeless. Readers will appreciate the characters' deeper meanings and the symbolism of the boy in the striped pajamas.
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