The boy in the striped pyjamas

The boy in the striped pyjamas is a book written by John Boyne about a nine-year-old child called Bruno who lives in Germany during the time of the Nazis. Bruno is the son of a general who works for Hitler (although Hitler is called in the book The Fury; his name is not mentioned). One day, Bruno arrives home from school and sees his mother, his annoying sister Gretel and the cleaning lady packing their stuff; so he asks them why and they tell him that they are moving to Auschwitz. When the family arrive at their new home, Bruno looks through the window and he sees on the other side of the fence, not really far away from his house, hundreds of people wearing striped pyjamas, so one afternoon he decides to explore and find out the reason why all those people are there (he cannot imagine that those people are Jews and that place, called "Out-With" is a concentration camp!). He meets Shmuel, a boy in striped pyjamas who is the same age as him and they become close friends. Every afternoon Bruno goes to see and talk to Shmuel who tells him that although they are just kids they should not be friends because they are very different. One day, Bruno has to have his head shaved because of lice, but it does not matter to him because he thinks that now he looks much more like his friend Shmuel, but Bruno's mother cannot stand the situation in Auschwitz anymore so she talks to Bruno's father and they decide that the best thing to do is for Bruno, Gretel and their mum go back to Germany. Bruno is not very enthusiastic about the idea because it means that he has to say goodbye to his friend Shmuel, but they have a plan for Bruno's last day in "Out-With": Bruno is going to see the other side of the fence and help his friend to look for his father, who had disappeared few days ago. He puts striped pyjamas on, but once they are in, Bruno starts feeling that he wants to come home, they are caught in a march with many men and they are locked in a gas chamber...

Bruno's family look for him desperately without any result until one day, Bruno's father sees his son's clothes and realizes what had happened.