Questions

The Boy In Striped Pyjamas was set in the past. Why should you care about the issues raised in the book? Should we continue to study this book in Grade 7?
6million Jews, sent to concentration camps and killed. What would it be like when I am one of those people in the past? History is really important in this world, nobody knows whether this historical fact might be really important in the future. We should care about the issues raised in the book because of several important reasons.
First, it is important to study this fact so that it cannot happen again. Interestingly, I was really shocked that there is some mass kills going on these days. We should care about the issues like this even though it is smaller than the Nazi death camps because it can get bigger and bigger. Also, in my opinion, I think it is really important to learn this issue as early as possible. Since, as people get more older they would not care to learn about these issues and would not find it more shocking as younger kids since they are more mature.
Second, what do we do when we are in that situation? Will we know what to do or what is going on in this situation when we did not learn about it? Eduacation is the way to block these issues from happening. Just like preventing hunger of your children by sending them to school, we must learn to prevent these things to happen once more. 7th grade, I think it is the perfect timing to keep on learning about these issues, because we are mature enough to understand these issues and is in a learning stage when we can absorb lots of information.
There are many people who think that it is not appropriate and too shocking for young kids like us, and think we will gradually learn about it in the future. However, even though I had and still have interest in history, if nobody gave specific education about this issue I would not have learned this. Even in the history book series, where there are lots of specific details about WW2, there were no sign of death camps.
I think it is really important to care about this issue, and to learn it quick as we can in a young age.

Rose Blanche

Rose Blanche

In ‘Rose Blanche’ by Ian McKewan & Robert Innocenti, It is interesting that the theme: ‘curiosity and innocence’ of the child is used to build up the story. The discoveries the child makes are used to illustrate the setting and what is going on. For example, the discovery of the truck loaded with kids, which leads to a discovery of the fence, and the discovery of suffering, hunger of the people on the other side of the fence. Also, motifs: the weather, the color of the sky is used to illustrate the mood.
More interestingly, there are many similarities between ‘Rose Blanche’ and ‘The boy in the striped Pyjamas.’ There were forest, fence, and soldiers. The people in the other side of the fence are skinny, and the story begins with a view outside the window. This also has the theme "curiosity and innonce'. Especially the boy named Bruno. The adventure he takes to meet his friend Shmuel has been possible because of his innonce, his willigness to explore, and his curiosity to find out what is going on. However, I think the more deeper theme in this book is friendship. A friendship between two boys whos fortunes are really different from each other. Overall, I think the best words that represents these two books are 'courage'. 'Courage' is the key point how the story works. The courage to explore, and the courage to go to a restricted place. I find it really difficult to understand because I do not really hace courage to help others that are really different from me, or go to an restricted place. But, this is why I think these books are really important that makes me wonder about randam acts of kindness and courage, for instance standing out for people who are bullied, racism etc.