The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Chapters 19 and 20

1. How does the uniform Schmuel provides remind Bruno of his grandmother?
2. How did you react to the ending of the book? Explain what was going through your mind.
3. What realization did the father piece together at the fence? Explain how you think he must have felt at that moment.
4. Why does the author state at the end of the story "Of course all of this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in his day and age"?
5. In your own word, explain the moral of this fable.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Chapters 17 and 18

1. What events in Chapter 17 foreshadow Bruno 's fate?
2.  The barbed wire fence is a physical separation between Bruno and Shmuel. What other types of separation does the fence represent in this story?

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Chapters 15 and 16

1. What would you have done if you were Bruno when Lieutenant Kotler attacked Shmuel for eating some food? Why do you think Bruno did or said nothing?
2. What do you think the story's most exciting events were in Chapter 16?

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Chapters 13 and 14

1. If you could ask __________ (any character) three questions, what questions would you ask him or her? 
2. Would you have lied to Gretel about Shmuel or would you have told her the truth? Explain why or why not.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Chapters 11 and 12

Complete the statements below and explain why you  felt this way:

Chapter 11

1. I was confused when ..

Chapter 12:

2. Give an example of a time when you were young child and you saw the world  from a more innocent perspective. What are some examples of that? What experiences helped you see the world differently than what you initially thought?

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Chapters 9 and 10

1. Explain your reaction when Bruno finds Shmuel at the fence? 
2. What surprised you the most in Chapter 10? Why?

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Chapters 7 and 8

1. Dramatic Irony- Dramatic irony, a device used more often in plays than in fiction, refers to a time when one character is ignorant of something that the other characters and the reader understand. What examples of dramtic irony can you find in Bruno's encounter with Pavel?
2. In literature, the setting is the time and place in which a story occurs. Setting is especially important in a historical novel such as this one. What is the setting of this novel? What details about the setting help make the characters' times and lifestyles seem real?
3. Bruno talks about the "Fury" which is a mispronunciation of Fuhrer the title given to the dictator Adolph Hitler. "The beautiful blonde woman" Bruno refers to is Eva Braun. What is one fact that you have learned about her and her relationship with Hitler in Ms. Wiley's class?
4. What is a simile? What is being compared in the following simile? The noise of a door slamming came from downstairs and reverberated through the house loudly-like the house loudly--like a gunshot--that Bruno jumped and Maria let out a small scream.