I Can't Bear To Be

I Think That Books For Young People Should Have Serious And Important Themes, They Shouldn't Be Trivial. So The Books I Write, They Would Be The Kind Of Stories You Would Write In An Adult Novel Only They Just Happen To Feature A Child At The Center Of Them.

Very Slowly He Turned His Head Back To Look At Shmuel, Who Wasn't Crying Anymore, Merely Staring At The Floor And Looking As If He Was Trying To Convince His Soul Not To Live Inside His Tiny Body Anymore, But To Slip Away And Sail To The Door And Rise Up Into The Sky, Gliding Through The Clouds Until It Was Very Far Away.'' -the Boy In The Striped Pajamas

What Exactly Was The Difference? He Wondered To Himself. And Who Decided Which People Wore The Striped Pajamas And Which People Wore The Uniforms?

Bruno: "why Do You Wear Pajamas All Day?" Shmuel: "the Soldiers. They Took All Our Clothes Away." Bruno: "my Dad's A Soldier, But Not The Sort That Takes People's Clothes Away."

Bruno: We're Not Supposed To Be Friends, You And Me. We're Meant To Be Enemies. Did You Know That?