Guest Spot: Everyone Loved It But Me

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    🕮    I was pleased to be a guest on the podcast Everyone Loved It But Me, hosted by Lisa Hedger. I spoke about the many issues I have with the middle grade Holocaust novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. This fall, a sequel will be released, entitled All the Broken Places. I urge you to approach this sequel with great caution. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is rife with historical inaccuracies, impossible scenarios, emotional manipulation, and tone-deaf messaging, and the author has shown only defensiveness in the face of the many criticisms he has received. I don't hold high hopes for the sequel to be any better, and I don't want this author to continue to profit from literary exploitation of the tragedy that was the Holocaust. In my personal opinion, Boyne's books should be put aside and attention should instead be paid to more authentic works of fiction and nonfiction about the Holocaust (see resources below).

LEARN MORE (From Lisa's Show Notes): 

• Everyone Loved It But Me
• This article in Sparknotes discusses how the book isn’t truly a fable.
• Teen Vogue writes in-depth about numerous problems with the book.
• The Guardian writes about the backlash that Boyne has received and includes his response.
• The Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre shares its problems with the book.
• Check out a list of literature about the Holocaust recommended by the Association of Jewish Libraries.
• On The Book of Life Podcast, Heidi's blog post recommends a number of Jewish kidlit books that represent Jewish joy instead of trauma.

Other Books Discussed:

• We Must Not Forget by Deborah Hopkinson
• People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn
• Linked by Gordon Korman
• Some Kind of Hate by Sarah Darer Littman
• The Assignment by Liza Wiemer

After the recording of this episode, Lisa and Heidi learned that there would be a sequel to this book. Here are articles about the sequel from The Literary Hub and The Times of Israel.