The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

For the film, see The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (film).

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
UK first edition book cover
AuthorJohn Boyne
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical
PublisherDavid Fickling Books
Publication date
6 January 2006
Publication placeIreland
Media typePrint (hard cover & paper back)
Pages216
ISBN0-385-60940-X
OCLC62132588
823.914 22
LC ClassCS 2006/45764
Followed byAll the Broken Places 

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a 2006 historical fiction novel by Irish novelist John Boyne.[1] The plot concerns a German boy named Bruno whose father is the commandant of Auschwitz and Bruno's friendship with a Jewish detainee named Shmuel.

Boyne wrote the entire first draft in two and a half days, without sleeping much; but also said that he was quite a serious student of Holocaust-related literature for years before the idea for the novel even came to him.[1][2]

The book has received a divided response from critics, with positive reviews praising the story as an effective morality tale. Holocaust scholars, historians and memorial organizations have criticised the book for its historical inaccuracies, which have been deemed potentially damaging to Holocaust education efforts.[3][4][5][6][7]

In both 2007 and 2008, it was the best-selling book of the year in Spain,[8] and it reached number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.[9] The book was adapted into a homonymous film in 2008, a ballet in 2017 and an opera entitled A Child in Striped Pyjamas in 2023.[citation needed][10][11][12][13][14] A sequel, All the Broken Places, was published in 2022.[15]

  1. ^ a b "Interview with Children's Author John Boyne". 2006. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2007.
  2. ^ "John Boyne talks About The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas". www.whatsonlive.co.uk. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  3. ^ Gray, Michael (1 December 2014). "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: A Blessing or Curse for Holocaust Education?". Holocaust Studies. 20 (3): 109–136. doi:10.1080/17504902.2014.11435377. ISSN 1750-4902. S2CID 143231358.
  4. ^ Sherwood, Harriet (27 January 2022). "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas 'may fuel dangerous Holocaust fallacies'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hughes20060121 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Agnew, Trevor (9 May 2008). "John Boyne Interview". Agnew Reading.
  7. ^ Hannah May Randall (31 May 2019). "The Problem with 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'". Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  8. ^ Stuart J. Foster; Andy Pearce; Alice Pettigrew (2020). Holocaust Education: Contemporary Challenges and controversies. London: UCL Press. ISBN 978-1-78735-798-3. OCLC 1159166150.
  9. ^ "Biography". John Boyne. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Coghlan, Alexandra. "Noah Max: my fight to make A Child in Striped Pyjamas". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  13. ^ Millington, Barry (13 January 2023). "A Child in Striped Pyjamas at the Cockpit review – intense, harrowing drama". Evening Standard. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  14. ^ Kenyon, Nicholas (12 January 2023). "A Child In Striped Pyjamas: Holocaust drama that's emotionally ambitious and diligently delivered". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  15. ^ Devlin, Martina (22 September 2022). "All The Broken Places by John Boyne: A sister's lifetime in the shadow of the death camps". Irish Independent. Retrieved 9 January 2023.