Nine-year-old Bruno knows nothing of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. He is oblivious to the appalling cruelties being inflicted on the people of Europe by his country. All he knows is that he has been moved from a comfortable home in Berlin to a house in a desolate area where there is nothing to do and no one to play with. Until he meets Shmuel, a boy who lives a strange parallel existence on the other side of the adjoining wire fence and who, like the other people there, wears a uniform of striped pyjamas.

Bruno’s friendship with Shmuel will take him from innocence to revelation. And in exploring what he is unwittingly a part of, he will inevitably become subsumed by the terrible process.

This pack contains detailed guided reading plans exploring key literacy elements including inference and deduction, language use, making connection and text organisation, along with key questioning to promote emotional intelligence, metacognition and compassionate inquiry. 

Multiple class/teacher use – this licence is required for Modern and Flexible Learning environments, Syndicate and School orders.

Individual class/teacher use – this licence is suitable for individual class/teacher use. 

Interest age: 10+
Reading age: 11+

Themes explored include: friendship, innocence, family, race, morality and ethics, The Holocaust