London, 18 June 2009: John Boyne’s novel, The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, (Black Swan) has been voted the Penguin Orange Readers’ Group Book of the Year.

Votes were collected from people entering the 2009 Penguin Orange Readers’ Group Prize on the Spinebreakers website. The award had previously been won by Khaled Hosseini’s, The Kite Runner, which remarkably claimed the top spot three years in a row.

The three favourite reading group books are:

1. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, John Boyne
published by Black Swan

2. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer
published by ATOM

3. Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
published by Penguin

Author John Boyne said, 'I'm thrilled that The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has been selected as the Penguin Orange Readers' Group Book of the Year. From the day the novel was published, it has received extraordinary support from reading groups who debate the novel back and forth with all the passion and argument that good literature demands – I know, because I've been there for some of those debates! That the story of Bruno and Shmuel continues to move readers is a source of great encouragement to me as a writer. I'm very grateful to Penguin and Orange and all the readers who selected the novel for this prize.'