Excerpt from "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"

In a scene from the novel by John Boyne, a fence both literally and figuratively separates two young boys. One is the son of a Jewish watchmaker and the other is the son of a Nazi soldier. See what they talk about.

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 8 Unit 3's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: Night, First They Came for the Communists, Terrible Things, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Diary of a Young Girl, Elie Wiesel Speech, Do Something!, Wangari Maathai, Freerice.com, Public Service Announcements, Famine as a Weapon
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. opposite
    directly facing each other
    Two boys were sitting on opposite sides of a fence.
  2. mend
    restore by putting together what is torn or broken
    Papa mended the watches that people brought to him and made new ones too.
  3. obvious
    easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind
    "The soldiers of course," said Shmuel as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
  4. design
    a decorative or artistic work
    Using his finger he drew a design in the dusty ground beneath him.
  5. armband
    worn around arm as identification or to indicate mourning
    "No one's ever given me an armband," said Bruno.
  6. prefer
    like better; value more highly
    I don't know which one I'd prefer though, your one or father's.
  7. delighted
    greatly pleased
    "That happened to me too!" said Bruno, delighted that he wasn't the only boy who'd been forced to move.
  8. contradict
    deny the truth of
    Bruno opened his mouth to contradict him again--he didn't really believe that eleven people could live in the same room together--but changed his mind.
  9. hesitate
    pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness
    He hesitated for a moment and bit his lip.
  10. insist
    assert to be true
    "There weren't any doors," insisted Shmuel.
  11. mumble
    talk indistinctly; usually in a low voice
    Bruno mumbled something under his breath along the lines of "Of course there were," but he didn't say it very loud so Shmuel didn't hear.
  12. amazed
    filled with the emotional impact of overwhelming surprise
    "Hundreds?" he said, amazed.
  13. exploration
    travel for the purpose of discovery
    What's the exploration like over there anyway?
  14. convinced
    persuaded of; very sure
    "Perhaps," said Shmuel, although he didn't sound convinced.
  15. suggest
    make a proposal; declare a plan for something
    He had hoped that Shmuel would suggest this himself but there didn't seem to be any sign of that.
  16. telegraph
    apparatus used to communicate at a distance over a wire
    In the centre, between two wooden telegraph poles, it lifted quite easily and a boy as small as Bruno could easily fit through.
  17. nervous
    causing or fraught with or showing anxiety
    Shmuel watched him do this and backed away nervously.
  18. notice
    perceive
    He turned and walked away and Bruno noticed again how small and skinny this new friend was.
  19. criticize
    find fault with; point out real or perceived flaws
    He didn't say anything about this because he knew only too well how unpleasant it was being criticized for something as silly as your height, and the last thing he wanted to do was be unkind to Shmuel.
  20. depart
    go away or leave
    "I'll come back tomorrow," shouted Bruno to the departing boy and Shmuel said nothing in reply; in fact he started to run off back to the camp, leaving Bruno all on his own.
Created on Tue Sep 15 08:31:48 EDT 2015 (updated Tue Sep 15 13:06:13 EDT 2015)

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