In 2008, two years after being published, the novel was made into a movie The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, directed by Mark Herman.[10]
In 2017, the novel was adapted into a ballet by the Northern Ballet. The score is produced by Gary Yershon.[11] Reviews of the ballet are generally negative with Zo and Euml Anderson of The Independent stating the casting of children's parts as adults works against "the naivety of a child's viewpoint," which the novel captures.[35] The Yorkshire Post's review described the score as "a relentless assault on the ears," but apart from the music, it stated that it has redeemable quality in the cast, despite being depressing.[11]
In 2023 the novel was adapted into an opera entitled A Child In Striped Pyjamas by Noah Max.[12] He says of Boyne's book: "It's very hard to convince children to read a book about something as dark and serious as the Holocaust and what I find amazing is that while not all adults get the profound symbolism of the story, kids get it. They pick up on the fact that the children have the same birthday and are the same child."[36] On the appropriateness of depicting the Holocaust through opera, Max says: "the only way to convey its magnitude – and in such a way that people understood it was symbolic and not real – was through opera."[13] The piece was positively received by critics. Barry Millington gave A Child In Striped Pyjamas four stars in the London Evening Standard, describing the work as "intense, harrowing drama... [which] invites universal grief".[14] In The Telegraph Sir Nicholas Kenyon wrote that the piece was "emotionally ambitious... vocally eloquent... there can be no doubt of the integrity with which the tight-knit company deliver it."[15]
