Milkweed (novel)

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Milkweed

Author	Jerry Spinelli
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Young adult, Historical novel
Publisher	HarperTrophy
Publication date	2003
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	208 pp + Question and answer by the author (only in the special edition)

Milkweed is a 2003 historical fiction novel by American author Jerry Spinelli. The book is about an orphaned boy without a name living in Warsaw, Poland in the years of World War II during the Holocaust. Over time, he learns that he is Jewish, so he must avoid the German troops (or "Jackboots") while living off the streets with other orphans that he runs into. The story's narrator is actually the boy in the future living in America recalling his past experiences. ^[1] ^[2]

1 Plot summary
2 Main characters
3 Critical response
4 Awards
5 References
6 External links
7 See also

[edit] Plot summary

The book is set in the year 1939 during the early years of World War II in Warsaw, Poland. The Holocaust is in full force.

The unnamed boy is doing everything he can to survive, stealing from bakeries, grocery stores, and pickpocketing wealthy people throughout the streets or Warsaw. He runs into a red-haired boy named Uri, an orphaned Jew who is living in the basement of an abandoned barbershop. Uri tells the boy that he must not run into trouble, especially with the German troops patrolling the streets. He creates a false identity for him, naming him Misha Pilsudski, and telling him that he is a Gypsy from a large family originally from Russia.

Many Jews in the city were taken to all-Jew ghettos. The living conditions in the city were also very bad, especially for the many orphans wandering the street. Misha, being very skinny and small, manages to find a 2 brick wide hole in the wall and is able to squeeze through it in order to go into the streets of Warsaw and smuggle. To Misha's horror, his one-armed orphan friend Olek is caught smuggling and is hanged on a street sign with a sign around his neck saying: I WAS A SMUGGLER. In the ghetto, Misha meets up with a girl named Janina Milgrom. Her father takes Misha in as his son. Misha changes his name from Misha Pilsudski to Misha Milgrom. In the ghetto, Janina's mother dies of starvation.

Soon the Germans begin to "resettle" everyone in the ghettos when they are actually deporting them. Many people believe they are taking them somewhere else to live in peace. While out smuggling, Misha sees Uri, who is not residing in the ghetto because he had red hair and did not seem to be a Jew. Uri warns Misha not to go on the deportation trains, or he will get killed. Misha tells Janina's father this and is told to bring Janina and run away. They disobey and are scolded repeatedly, but still don't leave. One night, on their way back, they find that the wall has been covered up and they can no longer get inside. They manage to rush in through the station, where Janina runs off again to go to "Candy Mountain". Misha tries to keep up with her, but the last time he sees Janina is when a Jackboot, or Nazi soldier, throws her into one of the boxcars to be taken to the prison camps. He turns to see another Jackboot pointing a gun at his face. Misha realizes it is Uri, and he is shot.

Misha wakes up in a bomb crater, wondering why he wasn't dead. He touches his ear, and realizes that Uri shot his ear off instead. After wandering around he is taken in by a farmer and lives with him for three years. When the war ends, he leaves, coming and going, and stealing what he can to sell to people.

When Misha gets enough money, he buys a ticket to America. There, he stands on street corners and talks nonsense, getting him fired from the few jobs he finds. On the corners, he meets his future wife. Because his strange behavior gets to her after awhile, she ends it---the marriage didn't even last a year.

Years later, his daughter finds him working in a grocery store. After confirming that he is her father, she asks him to give her four-year-old daughter Wendy a middle name. Without thinking, Misha, now called Jack, chooses the name Janina. The story ends with him living peacefully with his daughter and granddaughter in their home, being called Poppynoodle by Wendy.