Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m not much of a re-reader but I‘ve read three in May.

Berlin 1942 — Bruno, the young son of a Nazi officer, befriends a Jewish boy named Shmuel during World War II. Bruno‘s family moves to a house in the countryside near Auschwitz, where Bruno‘s father works. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy named Shmuel who is imprisoned in the concentration camp. Their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.

I just finished this book on my tablet. It was an interesting book to read. It was sad and emotional. I enjoyed reading this book. I rated this book a 3 out of 5 stars. This is my first book completed for the #20in4 readathon @Andrew65. I finished this book in 1:26.

This had some major problems, but it‘s a good introduction for kids. Innocence and heartache permeate every sentence, which is jarring but also a perfect tone for this story.

#24
This was so good..listened in one sitting

#2023Book36
This is one of the few books I like less every time I teach it.

Such a great (and super important) episode of the Diving In podcast. The ladies discuss the idea of ‘cancel culture‘ and book banning and all the BS involved. And my favorite part?! Where they defend teachers as professionals who can (and should be able to) correctly choose literature to utilize in their classrooms! 🤌🙌👏💪

This is a pick for me because I think it‘s an important story and one more people (especially kids) should read. Most of what I didn‘t enjoy (the juvenile way it‘s written, especially the constant repeating of phrases, and the naïveté of the characters) were clearly done on purpose to bring home the youth of the main character. Will I reread this? No. Am I glad I read it? Meh. Am I glad my son read it and we talked about it? Yes! ????

Ummmm…. Im not sure how I feel about this yet. Like… it‘s perfect for kids as an introduction, but also… wtf? I‘m so confused.

Been a minute but things have been busy. Working my way through my pile of TBR and decided this would be perfect. Let the crying commence

Well written. Good story considering the subject matter. This book is an excellent jumping off point to start a conversation with young people about what the Holocaust.
Short and worth the read.
4.5 ⭐️
Would recommend

Up next.

Oh dear.

Somehow I have never read this book, even though I knew about its existence. Maybe it would have been better for me not to read it, but...

I expected something along the lines of Life is Beautiful, a movie of which I may be not too fond of, but the first half is quite good... But this book is a mess. With its nonexistent research and odd understanding of how humans work, it was hard to read. Really hard.

It made me queasy.

I'm sorry.

Having a fun reread of “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas“ by John Boyne!

Who else has read this book?

This is a book I have read several times. It is one of my favourite books of all time.
It tells of the horrific events of the Holocaust through the naivety and innocence of a 9 year old boy. A must read. Heartbreaking yet beautiful.

“Their lost voices must continue to be heard.” ..

I think that this book is a very well fit for fourth and fifth grade and had ways to keep the reader engaged.

This book went in depth with the perspective of both a boy's journey as a nazi commander's son and a boy that was a Jewish prisoner. It was a very well detailed book that listed their perspectives and made the reader consider both.

A classic. Everyone should read this.

This heart breaking story tells a story of two boys in the holocaust . It was an interesting perspective to see the events that occurred through a child‘s eye. I highly recommend this book as I think it is very important that everyone is aware of what happened. #15 read a book of your choice.

I was aware of the existence of this book, but knew nothing of the subject matter. It is a story of WWII told through the eyes of a naive 9 year old German boy. I knew immediately where his family relocated and what his father did. The ending broke my heart. I saw it coming as soon but hoped it wouldn't end the way it did. Very good book.
April #authoramonth @Soubhiville

👌

Please don‘t support this author, don‘t read this book in class, don‘t buy it for your children. The Auschwitz Memorial Museum on Twitter has heavily criticized it.

“The UCL study concluded that the book‘s use in schools helped to foster “an inaccurate perception of German ignorance of the Holocaust.”

https://www.kveller.com/the-boy-in-the-striped-pyjamas-set-holocaust-education-b...

#JohnBoyne

Listened to this #AuthorAMonth book on my #AudioWalk today! Lots of flowers in Berkeley right now. 🌷Very much not enamored with the book so far (28% in) but at least it's a break for my brain! 🎧

This was an emotional book for me, and I‘m glad I read it because the innocence and honesty of children made this heartbreaking. I do recognize how implausible it would be for such a friendship to unfold in this horrific place and respect the critics who disagree with the setting used to this story. April #AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville

The book “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” by John Boyne, is a book that goes back in time of the World War 2 where this boy named Bruno and he lives in Berlin. He finds out that his entire family has to move out to some place where his father has to work for a person named the “Furry”. Later on in this story Bruno finds a friend that lives behind a fence Shmuel. Bruno finds an idea that he can play with Shmuel, so he sneaks inside and since this-

I read this book in lockdown. It's a very short book but you can't even guess what shock or ache this book hold in itself .
The end made me speechless and l just felt like I want to know more .
This book is definitely not for kids

The book has not been my favourite. I haven‘t read the entire book as if yet but so far I have not been too interested. It starts off with the main character, Bruno, going home to find his maid packing up his things so his family can move away to a different house. This book takes place during world war 2 in the 1940s and Bruno‘s family is on the side of the nazis. Bruno moves to a much sadder and darker house than his original home.

#2021Book115
Just finished teaching this for the third time. It‘s always a favorite with my 8th graders.

I‘m on a small weekend long getaway holiday with my boyfriend and accidently finished my buddyread with @Tanisha_A a bit early. This book left me heartbroken oh my god😭 5/5 🌟

A boy makes a friend across the fence.

A powerful book packed with adventure friendship and bravery. A heartbreaking story! Well executed and impossible to put down.

Character Focus*: What choices has the character made thus far? Do you agree with their decision?
So, far the character has made a big choice of deciding to walk a long, a very long fence everyday to talk with his new “friend“. This was due to his family's recent movement, which caused him to have no friends in the new area he lived in. I agree with the decision because all he wanted was social interaction. A way to stay sane, which I understand.

Fiction: In another place or time, how would the story change? Where else could the story take place?

I believe, that if you took this story and put into anywhere else in time, that story would already be present. What I mean by this, is the historical accuracy in the sense of how Jews were discriminated against simply because of their race is still present. Black Lives matter for example, it started because they were discriminated against.

#2021Book8
This was my second time teaching this book. Unfortunately, this class didn‘t respond to it as well as last year‘s kids, but I think they still got quite a bit out of it.

The super inaccuracy really lets this book down, and I get that the book was probably trying to show the irony of war. What goes around comes around, blah blah blah. But what it really seems to send the message of is that the tragedy is not the millions of innocent Jews that were senselessly murdered but the one German son of the nazi soldier who ‘didn‘t belong in the camp‘ and ‘didn‘t deserve to die‘ - this book just rubbed me the wrong way.

While I struggled with the simple and childish way this was told, the message comes across very clearly. But the story drags a bit due to the writing. At the end, the book makes it clear that the story is supposed to be a fable, but that might have been helpful to know earlier. Still, that ending will haunt me for quite a while.

Not people at all?! 🙄

I don't know what to say! Short but lacerating, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne is a novel that will quickly hook you in, and disorient you in a way you've never experienced before, but it will slowly reorient you and ponder, What on earth are we really here for as humans? Who gets to say one is superior and the other is inferior? Who in his right mind has the authority to discriminate and condemn people for who they are? 👇

I‘m very late to the party reading this one. Boyne does an amazing job. Straddling the line between young adult/adult fiction, I kept wondering how he would finish the tale. The book was bound to pack a punch and it sure did. This audio version also had an interview with Boyne which was icing on the cake.