The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

It's being labelled as a book for children, but it isn't, of course - it's marketed directly to adults, and while teenagers might read it, I can't see any adult giving it to a child. It's about the Holocaust, and it's fairly obvious - in fact, as soon as I read the title and the blurb "we can't give anything away about this book" I knew what it would be about.

I suppose the "book for children" thing might explain why as a reader you grow very impatient with the story (not the characters, particularly) and want it to hurry up. One mention of "Out-With" is enough, surely, for people to "get it" - does he need a whole page of repetition? This characterises the entire book; simplistic and obvious, and the question is - do we need a "dumbed-down" version of the Holocaust? It makes me very uncomfortable; it makes me feel that the author is missing something. It also makes me feel that the author doesn't read much children's literature.

It has been touted as "the first book about the holocaust for kids", but it isn't, of course - two Australian writers have done it before and done it better. Julie Vivas' "Let the Celebration Begin" and the more recent "Once" by Maurice Gleitzman do it far more effectively and far more movingly.