The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – Tuesday, May 30th, 2017 – Narrative Voice & Adaptation

Review Types of Narrators

1st Person:
 a character in the story
 uses the pronouns ____ & _____
 is the protagonist speaking

2nd Person:
 The narrator refers to at least character as ______
 The ‘you’ usually addresses the reader personally
 Examples: Self-help books, Song Lyrics,

3rd Person:
 every character is referred to by name or by ____, _____, _____, or _____
 Narrator is not involved with the actual story
 There are ( ) different main types of 3rd Person Narrators
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – Tuesday, May 30th, 2017 – Narrative Voice & Adaptation

Objective
Subjective
describes the exact facts
describes 1 or more of the story as they
character's personal happen
feelings and thoughts

Subjective Objective

describes 1 or more describes the exact facts

character's personal of the story as they
feelings and thoughts happen

One afternoon, when (1) Bruno came home from school, (2) he was surprised to
find Maria, the family’s maid – (3) who always kept her head bowed and never looked up
from the carpet – standing in his bedroom, pulling all his belongings out of his wardrobe
and packing them in four large wooden crates, (4) even the thing’s he’d hidden at the back
that belonged to him and were nobody else’s business.
’What are you doing?’ (5) he asked in as polite a tone as he could muster, for
although (6) he wasn’t happy to come home and find someone going through his
possessions, (7) his mother had always told him he was to treat Maria respectfully and not
just imitate the way Father spoke to her.

1. ______ 2. ______ 3. ______ 4. ______ 5. ______ 6. ______ 7. ______

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – Tuesday, May 30th, 2017 – Narrative Voice & Adaptation

Creating your own Graphic Novel:

Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

What you will need:

- A group of 3 students
- Materials to sketch/colour with
- A storyboard template

The object of this exercise is for you to transfer your skills, having discovered the narrative
voice and techniques of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, into a fully realised Graphic Novel
adaptation. You should remember that a graphic novel NEEDS to be concise, stylised, and
attention-grabbing!

o Break down your big scene into 4-6 smaller scenes. Decide on a tone for your
page and a colour pallet that matches.

o Agree upon what in your mini-scene you want to illustrate. Is it action? Dialogue?
Narrative descriptions? Decide at this point what text will go into the graphic
novel, and what must be cut!

o Sketch in pencil your general shapes (a person, a tree, a fence) before going over
with felt-tip pens/colour markers

o Start with the basics! You can always add more detail later – remember: you
have only a few seconds to convey the meaning.

Use the space below to start planning/sketching: