The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
Teaching Package
Materials needed: about 30 copies of the book, 1 audio-book, smartboard and flipcharts for
classwork.
Pre-reading activities
The Boy in the striped pyjamas is a good read with a intermediate level of difficulty. The theme will
appeal to different age-levels. An emotional story with a heartbreaking ending; it’s not enjoyable
in the sense that it is a funny story. It is crucial that students do not read the end of the story in
advance.
If possible, the series of lessons could be combined with more specific lessons on the subject of
the Holocaust in cooperation with the History section of the school.
Pre-reading activities start with the students looking at the cover of the book and reading the
backside. Ask them to give reactions. What do they think the story is about? What are the links
and associations they make between the lay-out (the blue and white stripes), title and the text on
the back-cover? Let them write this down on flipcharts and discuss the outcome in class.
Introduce terms such as WWII / Hitler / Holocaust and Final Solution / ghetto/ discrimination /
oppression / genocide / pogrom/ and check what students already know about them. Start with a
short BBC clip about how Hitler designs his plans for the Jewish population in Europe.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/hitler-takes-germany-to-war/3279.html
After this, watch the trailer of the film in class http://www.zuguide.com/#The-Boy-in-the-StripedPyjamas and make up a list of key words that come up in their minds. For example: friendship,
betrayal, war, freedom, captivity.
It is not hard to find information on the Holocaust on Internet. Two clicks on YouTube and you will
stumble across the most horrific pictures and heartbreaking stories but also on disputable
opinions and commentaries from people who send in their material. Which can be a point of
discussion in class. The following two programs are from the BBC and in our opinion educative and
suitable in class;
1. BBC clip with interviews with survivors of the Holocaust and British children who visited
Auschwitz.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/holocaust/children_1.shtml
2. BBC clip with the final solution about Auschwitz (5 pieces) YouTube. A combination of film,
interviews with survivors and a documentary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRtNEzJPCSg&feature=related
While-reading activities
Aimed at understanding and reader-response. The 20 chapters of the book cannot easily be
combined with the film because the film does not have the same pace as the book. An audio-book
(narrated by Michael Malony) could be used in class in combination with the printed version.
You can create reading circles. Every circle has about 5 students and the activities in class can be
done together. Students read 3 chapters at home every week.
Lesson 1
After the pre-reading activities you start reading chapter 1 together in class (Bruno makes a
discovery). The assignment is to let the students draw a “family” tree with all characters that
appear in the first chapter of the book. The students can describe their roles and relations to each
other. During the following weeks new characters will be added.
Homework is reading chapter 2, 3 and 4.
Lesson 2
After reading about Bruno’s house in Berlin and his new house in “Out-With”, let your students do
the following matching exercise. Use a flipchart to write down the answers and let the students
tell you were the following words go (Berlin or Out-With):
-
Friends, Karl, Daniel, Martin
- No friends
Family, grandparents
- No grandparents
Servants (Maria, Lars, cook)
- Father (2x)
Mother
- Mother changing
Gretel – the hopeless case
- Fury
Gretel – still the hopeless case, but changing attitude at times towards Bruno
The beautiful blonde woman
- The young man in uniform with blond hair
Three new maids and an old man
After this you can read chapter 5 together in class (Out of bounds at all times and no exceptions).
Focus on how Gretel and Bruno talk about what they see outside. Do you think that Bruno’s and
Gretel’s understanding is too child-like for their ages? Do you think they are being naïve? Discuss
this in small groups and give your opinions. What is new for you while reading this story? Have you
changed your ideas after reading these chapters?
Homework is reading chapter 6, 7 and 8.
Lesson 3
The assignment is to write the letter that Bruno’s grandmother would have written back to him.
Let the students think about how Bruno’s grandmother feels. Especially about “Out-With” and the
“Fury”. Would his grandmother be happy that Bruno moved to “Out-With”? And would
grandmother like the “Fury”? Furthermore you can read chapter 9 together (Bruno remembers
that he used to enjoy exploration).
Homework is reading chapter 10, 11 and 12.
Lesson 4
The fence between the two boys is a real fence. Use this fence in a figurative way. Find 10 strong
opposite characters, events or situations in the story and put them each at one side of the fence.
Design two symbols that represent the two different sides of the fence. Let the students think
about the symbols. Do they know the Star of David or the Swastika (the official emblem of the Nazi
party)? Do they also know the dove as a symbol of peace? A heart for love or the poppy for
remembrance of war victims? What is the outcome?
Find 5 other examples of situations where children are or were divided by literal or figurative
fences. Try to let the students think about their own experiences.
Read chapter 13 together in class (The bottle of wine).
Homework is reading chapter 14, 15 and 16.
Lesson 5
Read chapter 17 together (Mother gets her own way). Let the students think about who the rebels
are in this book and who the followers of the Fury are. Do they know what a rebel is? And a
follower? Put them at their side of the fence created in lesson 4.
The students do an exercise to expand their vocabulary with or without the help of a dictionary.
Allusion – anecdote - author’s purpose – character – characterization – conflict – falling action flashback – foreshadowing – genre – imagery – memoir – motivation – plot – setting - point of
view – tone – theme.
Fill in the blanks using the words above.
1. _____________ the main idea or message of a story.
2. _____________ the time and place in which a story occurs.
3. _____________ a reference to a well-known character, place, or situation from history,
music, art or literature.
4. _____________ a short written or oral account of an event from a person’s life.
5. _____________ an interruption in the chronological order of a narrative to describe an
event that happened earlier.
6. _____________ a type of narrative nonfiction that presents an author’s person experience
of an event or a period in the writer’s life.
7. _____________ the perspective from which a story is told.
8. _____________ an author’s attitude toward his or her subject matter.
9. _____________ the struggle between two opposing forces in a story or drama.
10. _____________ descriptive language that appeals to one or more of the five senses.
11. _____________ in a play or story the action that follows the climax.
12. _____________ a category or type of literature.
13. ______________ the methods a writer uses to reveal the personality of a character.
14. _____________ an author’s intent in writing a literary work.
15. _____________ the sequences of events in a narrative work.
16. _____________ the stated or implied reason a character thinks, acts, or feels a certain
way.
17. _____________ an author’s use of clues to prepare readers for events that will happen
later in a story.
18. _____________ an individual in a literary story.
Homework is reading chapter 18, 19 and 20.
Lesson 6
After the students have finished the book, ask them some questions about it.
 During which important period does the film take place?
 Why does it smell in Bruno’s backyard? What are they burning?
 Who is Gretel?
 What kind of job does Bruno’s father have?
 Who is Schmuel? Why is he in the camp?
 Why does Bruno enter the camp where Schmuel lives? What are they looking for?
Then read chapter 19 en 20 together in class with use of the audio-book. Ask the students what
they think of the ending of the book. Let the students write a different ending to the story in 150
words from the moment Bruno crawls under the fence.
Lesson 7
Look at the similarities and differences between Bruno and Schmuel. Draw 2 circles on a flipchart
which overlap in the middle. See for an example appendix one. One circle is Bruno and one circle is
Schmuel. Let the students fill in the circles. You could use terms like nine years old, same birthday,
shaved heads, explorer, lives in a house on the hill, German, from Berlin, Jewish, wears striped
pyjamas and lives in the camp, from Poland.
Ask the students the following questions and give them time to write down their answers.
 If you could meet one of the characters in the book, which one would you choose and
explain why you chose this character.
 If you could interview one of the characters who would you choose and what five questions
would you ask and predict how the character would respond.
 Which character do you admire the most? And least? Why?
Discuss the answers in class and match the pictures in appendix two with the characters in the
book.
Lesson 8
The Auschwitz museum provides a virtual tour on the Internet. The exterior and interior of the
renovated camp can be explored by camera.
http://en.auschwitz.org.pl/z/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9&Itemid=35
Do the students see any similarities with “Out-With” in the book or movie? Does the picture they
have in mind while reading correspond with what they see in the tour?
After this you could introduce the author of the book, John Boyne. He calls his story a fable. Let
the students find out what a fable is. Do they think the story fits in this category? Explain why.
Have the class identify the literary elements of a fable. Ask them to compare these elements with
the book. (A fable is a short story with a strong moral which tells a general truth or is only partly
based on facts).
 Discuss the moral or message of the novel. Let students give their opinions.
 What new insights and understandings does John Boyne want the reader to gain from
reading this story?
Post-reading activities
Aimed at imaginative and critical reflection.
1. Evaluate the past lessons. Ask your students if they think that the past few lessons were
interesting. If they think the history is important to know. What they have learnt from it.
2. Review of the book. Half of the students are going to send in questions about the book and
the other half of the class will answer them. For example:
- What is good about this book? Any weak points?
- Would you recommend it to a friend?
- Why and to whom would you recommend it?
3. Watch the BBC interviews with the actors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9KAbBlcQwM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h38ha1qKTJQ&feature=related
4. Interview with author John Boyne (BBC). Students can ask the writer questions on his
webpage.
www.JohnBoyne.com
5. Ask your students if they can imagine that many (Jewish) people have criticized this book.
They can motivate their opinion in approximately 100 words.
6. Students can also be divided into two groups. One group must look up research from critics
that substantiate the claim that this book does trivialize the Holocaust. The other group
must find information that disputes that claim. After that let them prepare a short
presentation explaining the information that they have uncovered.
7. Show students the following video of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Army in
1945 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBJ8S43w8CA. With Shmuel and Bruno in mind
they are going to write an appeal for the Red Cross in order to try to find the parents of the
children. To give them an idea, listen together in class to the radio fragment on BBC radio.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/holocaust/index.shtml
8. 27 January is Holocaust memorial day (liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Army in 1945).
Students are going to create a memorial for the two boys and/ or child-victims of war. The
art-piece should be accompanied with words which express a message for future
generations. This activity could be done in cooperation with the arts and crafts section of
the school.
9. Gretel has several propaganda posters in her room. Do your students know what
propaganda posters are? Let them design a poster that gives the opposite message, a
poster which Bruno’s grandmother would have liked.
Propaganda documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB45qymNQEo&feature=related
10. In the end you could do a quiz.
http://www.funtrivia.com/flashquiz/index.cfm?qid=318123
11. You can watch the film together in class.
Appendix one:
Note: These are just simple ideas of what could be in the Venn-diagram, others could be put in as well.
Appendix two
Match the following names with the pictures and explain why.
Bruno – Pavel – Lieutenant Kottler’s father – Schmuel’s father – Grandmother – Shmuels’s family –
Gretel – Bruno’s father- Herr Liszt- Lieutenant KottlerMatching name:
Explanation:
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