The Boy in the Striped Pajamas By John Boyne

“Well you’ve been brought here against your will, just as I have. If you ask me, we’re all in the same boat. And it’s leaking.”(40). The book "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" by John Boyne is a fictional story about a boy named Bruno  and his life in a very non-fictional and harsh reality, during World War Two in the 1940'S. Bruno was content with his life in Berlin, and enjoyed playing with his three best friends in his enormous and mysterious house, until the day his father got a promotion. Bruno was forced to leave the city life for a drab, lonely place called "Out-With" (Auschwitz) when his father gets to be called commandant and wears a new fancy suit for his job.  In Out- With, Bruno is terribly lonely for he has no friends to go on adventures with. However he can see many children his age playing together from his bedroom window, the only problem being they are on the other side of a fence, and for some reason all the people on the other side of the fence wear matching blue and white striped pajamas. Despite his fathers order to never come near the fence, he goes on an adventure to the fence and meets a little boy named Schmuel who wears blue and white striped pajamas and is on the other side of the fence. A friendship is formed and between the fence becomes their meeting point everyday. Overtime, Bruno discovers the awful things being done to the so called "Jews" who wore blue and white striped pajamas, and that his father was in charge of all that was happening. Bruno one day crosses the fence to visit where Schmuel lives, a life risking adventure. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" has an interesting twist on the history of The Holocaust, being seen from an innocent 9 year-olds eyes.  The book is hard to put down and will take the reader from tears of joy to tears of sorrow within chapters. It gets up close and personal with how life was in Auschwitz, and the horrible things a 9 year-old has to witness. I would rate this book ten out of ten, for not only was it historically informational but a drama filled read. However, I would not  recommend this book for anyone who does not fully understand what happened during the Holocaust, or someone who does not like a sad book.