The book, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, follows the story of a nine-year-old german boy named Bruno, whose dad is a nazi soldier. Bruno is an adventurous boy but does not know much about the war, or what his father does. When Shmuel comes into his life, everything shifts. Shmuel is a Jewish boot, who is the same age as Bruno, who is in the concentration camp. When Bruno was exploring, he found Shmuel sitting on the other side of the fence. Bruno, not knowing what a jew even is started talking to Shmuel. Bruno was not very happy with the move, and his largest problem was that he missed his friends. As both the boys talked, Bruno realized that maybe the new house was not so bad. Shmuel was a very important character in the book because it made Bruno open his eyes, and see how the world is not always he had seen it. Shmuel was going through a horrible thing but was still very nice to Bruno, and still listened to his problems. He was a best friend to Bruno and changed his life.