The+Boy+in+the+Striped+Pyjamas

by John Boyne

**Novel Study**
 * in this unit we will:**
 * **read the novel //The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas;//**
 * **//complete a series of formative activities, including Comprehension questions, Close Readings, Setting, Characterisation and Themes;//**
 * **//undertake a group activity;//**
 * **//complete a final Summative Task.//**

==Although this Slideshare powerpoint is very detailed, and some of the information is beyond what you need to know, it does give a terrific and comprehensive background to the Holocaust and the Nazi persecution of the Jewish people in Europe. We will go through this in class.== media type="custom" key="26398264" align="center"

Before Reading Activities =The Cover and the Blurb= Look at the three different book covers and respond to the questions below.  

• To whom do the pyjamas belong? • The dirty smudges on the pyjamas: why are they there? • Who would neatly fold a pair of dirty pyjamas? • What is the importance of the number on the pyjamas? • What does the barbed wire in the background suggest? • Do we associate the stripes with the word pyjamas in the title? • Are the stripes on the cover anything to do with the ‘boy’ in the title? • Are they his pyjamas? • The colour seems old-fashioned: is this because the story is from the past? • The stripes seem a little faded: what does this mean? • Why do the stripes seem a little dirty? • Who are these children? • Which boy does the title refer to? • We cannot see their facial expressions. Are they happy or sad? • Where are they? • Why do they have numbers pinned to their ‘pyjamas’? • Is one boy older than the other? Are they brothers or friends? • Is this a posed photograph?
 * Cover 1 (folded pyjamas)**
 * Cover 2 (striped pyjama pattern for book cover)**
 * Cover 3 (two boys standing side by side)**

=THE BLURB= Read the blurb on the back of the book cover. Compare it to the one reproduced below. Which do you prefer, and why?

// A book’s blurb is very important to a reader. When he or she takes it down from the shelf in the bookshop it’s what makes them decide to buy the book or not. When the novel was being prepared for publication I wrote the following blurb and sent it to my publisher: // When Bruno returns home from school one day, he is upset to discover that all his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion at work and the family has to move from their luxurious home to a new city, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. Worse still, the new house has a tall fence running alongside it that stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the children he can see in the distance on the other side. But Bruno longs to be a great explorer like his heroes Amerigo Vespucci and Christopher Columbus and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place and sets off one day to see how far the fence runs. And it is while exploring that he meets another little boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own. // This was a simple, to-the-point explanation of the story. At the same time, however, the book’s publisher David Fickling wrote the following: // The story in this book is very difficult to describe. Usually we give some clues about the book on the jacket, but in this case we think that would spoil the reading of the book. We think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about. If you do start to read this book, you will go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy called Bruno. (Though this isn’t a book for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence. Fences like this exist all over the world. We hope you never have to encounter such a fence. // There was no question in my mind which was the stronger piece of writing. David’s blurb was so in keeping with the story, with the mystery and horror at the centre of it, that it gave me a chill as I read it. Ultimately, although it was a bold and unusual piece of publishing, it was David’s blurb which ended up on the book and which brought it so much attention. //
 * John Boyne says:**

// Here is a link to a discussion by the author John Boyne, about the novel //

// The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas //

Start reading the novel by yourself. Go to the next page of the unit (Click Here...) for questions and activities to do as you read.