Week 6 - The End

Week 6 – The Boy in Striped Pyjamas

Introduction:

This week is the last week before the exams. I can’t believe the first semester is already coming to a close but alas we have arrived at the final theme: Crossover. An interesting theme, as it bridges the gap between adult and youth literature. For this week, I’ve decided to read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. A book with quite a lengthy history and is mentioned at least once every school year.

First impressions:

The story follows a young German boy called Bruno when he moves to a new house. As he gazes out of his bedroom window he sees a “farm” with people wearing striped “pyjamas”. Despite his father telling him to forget about it, he decides to go exploring. As he approaches the fence, he finds another boy on the other side. Later in the story, the other boy’s father goes missing. After a fight between Bruno’s parents his mother wants to leave the farm with him. He doesn’t want to go, so he decides to put on “striped pyjamas” and join his new friend in the search for his missing father. Later on, the two boys are put in a large “shower” (gas chamber) with several men as Bruno’s parents are heart achingly trying to find him. Bruno dies in the gas chamber.

My initial impressions are shock and awe. I had heard good stories about this book before but I had no idea it would be this good. This story transcends any and all expectations I had. It has great characters, a gripping plot and a fantastic point of view. While the book is told in a third person narrative, it allowed the writer to tell the story through Bruno’s eyes. The innocence of Bruno, where he doesn’t realize who his new friend is and what group is on the other side of the fence is something that really stuck with me. We often don’t consider the points of view of the younger people around us, but it is good that books like this help us remember that there is still innocence in this world.

Class discussion/theory:

There were several discussions in class this week. It began with the topic of “Graded Readers”. Graded Readers are “easy reading” books used to teach children English as their second language. Graded readers are typically graded, i.e. levelled, within a series according to high frequency headword count. For example, Level 1 in a series might be restricted to 500 headwords, Level 2 to 600 headwords, and Level 3 to 700 headwords. Not everyone agreed on why children should or shouldn't read this. I firmly agree with the fact that “watering down” great literature to make it more suitable for younger audiences destroys the actual purpose of the book, but that doesn't mean they can't enjoy it. Furthermore, If learners start with graded readers they won’t have to stop and look up lots of unknown words in the dictionary. (Budden, 2008) Changing the book will directly impact the plot and the narrative and maybe destroys the meaning that the author put behind the book. On the other hand, if it makes it easier for younger readers to read, and actually gets them to read, who are we to judge?

Later in the discussion we arrived at the topic of Crossover itself, and why it is so popular with adults Again, not everyone agreed. This is also the part of the discussion I found the most interesting and took the most away from. Adult readers can find secret meanings in crossover literature that younger readers might miss. Adult readers need an escape from everyday life, and these books facilitate that. Sometimes adult readers want a relatively simple book, just to doze off. I find that our society has undergone a massive paradigm shift in regards to crossover literature and the social acceptance. It is now “cool” to have read Harry Potter for instance, which, in its purest form is youth literature.

Age suitability/theory:

I strongly feel that big historic events like the holocaust should be talked about with children. We live in a world where newer generations are becoming increasingly ignorant about history facts and their accuracy. There are several people who would argue against this, saying children should grow up in a world protected from all this harsh information. I think that while children may not fully be able to understand the holocaust, they can at least learn about it in a simplistic way. In this aspect, I agree very much with Jerome Bruner, an educational theorist who believed that “there’s an appropriate version of any skill or knowledge that may be imparted at whatever age one wishes to begin teaching – however preparatory the version may be.”(Bruner, 1960). In line with this, I’d recommend the age group of at least 12, to actually read the book. In the bigger picture, education about events like the holocaust can start at the age of 9+. I definitely understand that this book is crossover, as it provides both young and adult audiences with a gripping story. Of course the adult audience will definitely understand the subtleties of the author where the children reading the same book won’t.

Interesting theories/information:

There aren't very many theories other than people questioning the authenticity of the Holocaust discussed in the book. For example: "Auschwitz was a concentration camp in Poland surrounded by double fencing…electric fences. Technically, the boys could not have sat next to each other because Shamuel would have had to crawl under one of the fences to get to the edge. If it would have been so easy to do that, then everyone could have escaped. Another part that was never mentioned was the fact that Auschwitz was heavily guarded and no guards were ever brought up in the story. At one point in the book the boys hold hands…so what happened to the electric fences?"

Sources:

Budden, J (2008) Using Graded Readers, retrieved on the 4th of November from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/teaching-tips/using-graded-readers-0

Bruner, J.S. (1960) The process of education, Harvard University Press; 2nd Revised edition edition (1 July 1960)