The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

Pierrot is the son of a French mother and a German father who is still struggling with the effects of the first world war.  His childhood is spent in France playing with his neighbor and best friend, Anshel, who is Jewish.  But when Pierrot's parents die, his life truly begins to change.

He ends up in a mansion called the Berghof on top of a mountain living with his aunt.  She is the housekeeper and head of a staff with mixed feelings about their master.  When his arrival is imminent, the house is cleaned from top to bottom, and Pierrot's aunt warns him to stay out of the way.  The master doesn't care for children.  She also changes his name to Pieter, a strong German name.

When the master arrives, it is none other than Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer himself.  Almost despite himself, Hitler feels an affection for Pieter and spends a good deal of time with him.  This is how Pierrot, the loving child whose best friend was a Jew becomes indoctrinated in the philosophies of hate until he becomes a monstrous teenager hungry for power.

This book by John Boyne is something of a companion to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas as it has the same fable-like quality.  This is truly a disturbing book which illustrates how malleable young children are.  I don't think this one is quite as successful as Pyjamas only because Pieter's awakening is too quick.  After spending an entire book watching him become corrupted, I needed more development on the back end of the story.  Even though Pieter is quite young at the beginning of the story, I would recommend this book for older readers, at least 7th grade, because it deals with mature themes and because a working knowledge of the events of the Holocaust and WWII would be helpful in understanding the true stakes of the story.