I was eager to read 'The boy at the top of the mountain' as I had enjoyed 'The boy in striped pyjamas', sharing it with my grade six students. I was not disappointed with John Boyne’s latest – I devoured it within a day!

Pierrot’s story begins when he is seven years old. When his parents perish from separate ‘illnesses’, we follow him from his childhood home in Paris to an orphanage in Orleans. After a short stay in this institution we travel with the still seven-year-old Perriot to Salzburg where he is to be raised by his Aunt who is the housekeeper at the Berghof, the home of Adolf Hitler.

What I most enjoyed about this story is the impact of Hitler’s philosophies on the young boy. Pierrot (who later adopts the more German ‘Pieter’) enters Hitler’s home as an innocent young boy who, after suffering through the death of both parents and frequent bullying (due to his small stature), questions the fairness of the world around him. Over the next eight years however, Pierrot admires Hitler’s power and aspires to be more like his idol - no longer looked down upon or pushed aside by the people around him. He is compelled to do anything it takes to prove himself and adopts the dictator’s tactics in demanding respect and compliance from everyone he interacts with.

Although this story is similar to 'The boy in striped pyjamas' as it is told by a young boy and it reads like a book for younger readers, it does have a few mature themes.

John Boyne tells a powerful and compelling story with plots twists that you wouldn’t expect. I really enjoyed this new ‘take’ on the Nazi regime.