Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - age 9?

[ElizabethWakefield]

Just after some opinions please.

DD's class (P6) 9 and 10 yr olds, started reading the Boy in the striped pyjamas today in school. They seem to have been given no background etc and I was just a but surprised as I thought it was aimed at older children.

I have read it, and while I didn't think it was particularly well done, I feel that it will just go over the children's heads just now and they wont really understand it.

DD has a basic understanding of the war and what happened in concentration camps (I was recently at auschwitz) and it's not that i am against her learning about it, i just feel with no background, it is a bit pointless.

They are also going to be shown the film (which is a 12 as a matter of interest).

Just really wondering what others thought.

We do it with high ability Y8 and it really irritates me when they come up having done it in primary school because they have not understood it at all. The simplistic voice of the child narrator means some people obviously think it's accessible to young children but it's far more complex than that and it's the layers of meaning that make it a rich and satisfying text to study. Doing it at primary level renders it pointless because all of this is missed.

I also feel the subject matter is far too harrowing for primary - I find it upsetting to teach every year but I think it's vital for teenagers to understand what happened and never to forget so on balance, it is worthwhile - but only once they've gained the maturity to cope, and we still have to tread very carefully. I don't want to give anyone nightmares!

Wrt the implausibility - this gives us the chance to introduce the concept of a fable and how it draws on real history to create a fictional morality tale. We do discuss the ways in which it wouldn't have happened, but thats obviously not the main point - studying it in English is all about the symbolism, the skill of weaving the narrative and the excellent opportunities this novel presents for inference and deduction whilst also covering important ideas about srereotyping, propaganda and prejudice. I really wish primary schools didn't do it and I certainly wouldn't be happy with my young children seeing the film.

Oh bollocks! What a waste of time typing all that out was for a sodding zombie thread!

I don't think it's an appropriate choice for primary school, especially as a class read.
I thought it was very well written and moving. Quite heart-breaking at the end though.
I complained in my local bookshop that it was in a section for teenagers, though now I think maybe it could be OK for older teenagers with support.
Really not suitable for under 10's I'd say
There's enough time to gradually learn about the realities and sadnesses of life. Children do need a childhood. Let them choose from so much other excellent children's literature, not this one just yet

I appreciated your post Jelly

It's a dreadful book which makes it appear that you could walk out of Auschwitz, which is a grotesque distortion (an opinion a survivor of the camp also I once spoke with shared). Without them actually being taught about the deportations and Holocaust, it is a pointless read; they need the context. Having said that, as a book to learn about the Holocaust, it is shit. A school should not be showing a 12 rated film to a room of children who are younger without obtaining consent from parents.