#148 in Children’s books
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
- 216
- Pages
- about 4 h
- Reading time
- Film 2008
- On screen
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Our view
Boyne shows the Holocaust through a nine-year-old who does not grasp what he sees, and that gap in understanding gives the short novel its force. Some readers are left shaken by the ending. Others find Bruno’s obliviousness hard to accept, and some question how plausible the central friendship is. It works best as a fable, not as a history lesson.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a 2006 historical fiction novel by Irish novelist John Boyne. The plot concerns a German boy named Bruno whose father is the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp and Bruno's friendship with a Jewish detainee named Shmuel. As of 2022, the book has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 58 languages, making it one of the best-selling books of all time.
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen once.
- FilmThe Boy in the Striped PajamasIMDb
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.7 across 882 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 86% of the weight and the score stays at 7.7 — the Children’s books average of 7.9 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.9 | 75 | 9% |
| Google Books | 9.0 | 31 | 4% |
| Hardcover | 7.6 | 776 | 88% |
Frequently asked
What age is The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas for?
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas sits on the Children shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 5–10. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 216 pages — shorter than 93% of the ranked books in Children’s books.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Children’s books — with scores between 7.7 and 8.1, closest to this book.
