The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

I had heard of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas before, though I had never read it. As the matter of fact, a student I help to make her level of English improve had to read it, which was why it was very convenient for me having to read it too. However, I had no idea it was about WWII until I started reading, so it was rather heavy and unexpected. The language used was very readable and easy to understand, I think students would also not have any problems reading The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

The friendship of Bruno and Shmuel was sort of a light in the darkness of the story. It was very beautiful to see that they didn’t really live with the knowledge that it was war and awful things were happening around them; this shows that ignorance can actually be bliss.

During class we talked about how believable the book is, I must admit that I hadn’t even thought about it that way. The subject was the likelihood of being able to crawl under the fence without being seen, which is next to nothing. Of course books have to be read with some sort of imagination, which is probably why I didn’t think about that before. Most of the other people did think it was too unrealistic to be in the story, even though I hadn’t thought of it before, it is quite unrealistic. If it was possible for Bruno to go back and forth, everyone in the camp would’ve been able to cross the fence and nobody would stay in the camp.

We also had to discuss which perspective young readers would have, opposed to adult readers. The conclusion of the group I was in was that the book can be appealing to both categories, but probably for different reasons. If we take the friendship of Bruno and Shmuel for example; young readers can relate to this because they’ll compare it to their own friendships whereas adult readers find the innocence is endearing to read about.

To my own surprise I really liked the book; I am not really a history / war fan. I would therefore recommend it to readers of the ages 14 to 16; they can really learn something about WWII whilst broadening their vocabulary. Teenagers will be able to relate to the book because of the struggles they are going through themselves and might learn that their life isn’t all that bad. Another reason they could relate to the book is pushing boundaries, in this case done quite literally. They can also learn that it might be for their own good to listen to their parents instead of trying to break the rules set for them.

I would use this book in class, and to make the pupils think about the story, I would let them have a class discussion about what would’ve happened if Bruno’s parents found out that he had a friend on the other side of the fence.

The Hobbit

Just like almost any other person, I have seen the two movies based on The Hobbit, therefore once again I had an easy pick which book I was going to read. I have to say I was a bit disappointed while and after reading The Hobbit, because in my opinion the book takes way too long starting the story which makes it a bit of a drag. Comparing a book to the movie is something I really like doing, because I don’t get annoyed by the differences but I do like spotting them. One big difference was the death of Smaug; this is made a very big deal in the movie, but in the book it is written as if it was an accident that Smaug had been slain by the humans. I think this could have been written in a much more exciting way. Another main difference was, obviously, that the book has a closed ending and one movie still has to be made before that will be coming to an end.

What I really liked was the fact that Bilbo did not want to go on a journey, but Gandalf tricks him by putting a sign on his door. This also happens in the movie, but in the book it is also explained that Gandalf chose to send the dwarves separately to stop Bilbo from freaking out. In the book, as well as in the movie, this is very funny when it happens.

I do think The Hobbit has a few big life lessons which make it worth reading, especially for youth aged 16 to 18. One of these lessons is once Thorin is wounded and tells Bilbo he is sorry for being so greedy. Even after he tells Bilbo that he can take his entire share, Bilbo only takes what he can carry, because to him, that’s enough. Another lesson taught is the fact that the dwarves don’t appreciate Bilbo at first, but over time they learn how valuable he is. This can show students to look beneath the surface and not judge the book on its cover.

Because of the many characters and slow telling story, I would say it is appropriate for the ages of 16 to 18. Younger children would get distracted easily and most of them would probably find the storyline too complex. It would also be rather difficult to most young teenagers to identify themselves with the story because it’s mostly about other creatures. Humans are also in the book, but they only have a very small influence on the story; also because the slaying of Smaug has been made such a tiny impact. Older teenagers would look at the struggles the characters go through more than at the characters in and on themselves.

I would be very reluctant to make my students read The Hobbit, because I don’t think most high school students would see the value of this book. If I had to use this book whilst teaching, I would probably let my students make a mindmap or a timeline to highlight the important events.

The Story of Tracy Beaker

When I heard that The Story of Tracy Beaker was on the list of Youth Literature, the first thing I thought was “isn’t that a TV series?” I didn’t know that it was a book too. Being familiar with the TV series made me very excited about the book, so I ordered it in the book store. Once I got the book, I got very eager to read; the cover is very colourful and gets your attention. I think the cover shapes a rather accurate image of the book and the writing style; it is very playful and funny. The language used is not difficult and rather easy to read, which helps to read it quite fast.

I would recommend this book for children between the ages of 10 to 12 years old, because the vocabulary is not too difficult it might also be suitable for younger children. The book has been made more fun for younger children by way of a lot of illustrations. The story is also being told by a 10-year-old, which would help them relate to the situation if they are somewhat of the same age. I think older children would view it as being too childish, as they want to be seen as being very mature. This is also noticeable in music preferences; most children aged 14 to 18 dislike music such as Disney because they think they have outgrown it, whilst they start listening to it again later on because they see the deeper meaning and realise it isn’t just childish. As now I can see and understand why Tracy acts the way she does, but at the age of 16 I would’ve thought it was a kids’ book.

The book starts out with Tracy filling out answers about herself; this helps the reader to form an image of what the main character is like. The way the questions are being answered directly shows what kind of person Tracy is and the way she thinks.

I really liked the fact that the book actually helps you to understand Tracy and is being told from a children’s perspective. The book is very honest and the sometimes butch way of telling stories makes it very entertaining. On the other hand, the story being told also had its downsides; the reader only knows what Tracy knows. It frustrated me that I didn’t know what had happened to Tracy’s parents, however, in class discussion it was mentioned that this might make the reader understand more of what and how Tracy felt.
I also thought it was very sad that Peter left to a foster home, I really felt bad for Tracy. But with everything that happens in the book that might be sad, also makes it a realistic view of life.

During teaching, The Story of Tracy Beaker can be used in various ways, this has been made easier to use it for this purpose because in the back of the book is a list of the characters and it also has a quiz in the back of which I think could be used during class.