2. Importance of Novel

Lesson Two
The Importance of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas


Quote: "'The thing about exploring is that you have to know whether the thing you've found is worth finding. Some things are just sitting there, minding their own business, waiting to be discovered. Like America. And other things are probably better off left alone. Like a dead mouse at the back of a cupboard.'
'I think I belong to the first category,' said Shmuel.
'Yes,' replied Bruno. 'I think you do. Can I ask you something?' he added after a moment.
'Yes,' said Shmuel.
Bruno thought about it. He wanted to phrase the question just right.
'Why are there so many people on that side of the fence?' he asked. 'And what are you all doing there?'" The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Page 114-115.

Activity: Class reads page 116-133 of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas together with a few volunteers reading passages. (15 mins)

Once finished, each student jots down 3 dot points on the three things they found most important or memorable from the passage. In small groups, students compare their thoughts on important issues and jointly build a ladder diagram (similar to the example on 'Cooperative Learning' below) to rank the important information, and upload these images to this blog. (15 mins)

Activity: Students now read and view the following reviews of the novel. Students then use their preferred search engine and find other reviews that highlight what they think is important about the novel, and embed/share the links of any reviews they find in this blog. (20 mins)

Review 1

Review 2

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A Failed Holocaust Fable

By Richard Schickel Friday, Nov. 07, 2008

Click to read: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1857440,00.html#ixzz1vlA920Dw

{Teacher will have spoken individually with students during this lesson about what they are finding important about the novel and the story it tells. Now the teacher asks a few questions for the students to think about the ways in which the novel reveals its meaning, including:

• Why do you think the story is told from the perspective of a child?
• How might it be different if Bruno and Shmuel were adults?
• Why do you think Hitler is referred to as The Fury?
• How does the story show different perspectives on the war and Bruno's father's role in the war?
• Do you think the novel has an opinion on the war? How does it show its opinion? Why do you think so?

Teacher explains the students are to think about these questions individually for the next lesson} (10 mins)