I have just finished reading this book & there seem to be a number of errors in this wiki page. For example, we never find out the names of Bruno's parents or even the family's surname. I presume the character names listed on this wiki page have been taken from the movie. The plot section on this page also mentions that Lt Kotler drags Pavel from the room & kills him. This was never mentioned in the book nor did Bruno's father tell him the people on the other side of the fence are Jews. Bruno first hears the word Jew when talking with his sister, Gretel. The contributor above is correct, the book starts with Bruno at age nine & Schmuel is also 9 when they eventually meet halfway through the book. I will wait a week and if there are no objections, I will correct the errors.