First I watched the movie, on a chilly sort of day. HAS was home for Presidents' Day, and I had a 99-cent movie, titled The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
The movie opens with three little boys playing in the streets of a populated city, circa 1940. They're pretending to be airplanes, their arms outstretched, voices buzzing. As a lover of All Things Children, I was hooked.
The movie is, simply, extraordinary. From the opening to the ending, I and HAS watched, riveted.
So sad, the ending. Didn't see it coming. I hadn't yet read the book.
After the movie, I got the book from my bookshelf, noted my handwritten inscription: Kathleen Stander, Scholastic Book Fair, 2007. Read the book jacket: "The story of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas 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."
I started the book Monday afternoon, post movie viewing. Finished Tuesday morning.
Book is a quick, but unforgettable, read. Five stars.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
A Fable by John Boyne
Copyright 2006
Published by David Fickling Books
an imprint of Random House Children's Books
a division of Random House, Inc.
New York
Summary: Bored and lonely after his family moves from Berlin to a place called "Out-With" in 1942, Bruno, the son of a Nazi officer, befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wire fence.
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