I am running. That’s the first thing I remember. Running. I carry something, my arm curled around it, hugging it to my chest. Bread, or course. Someone is chasing me. “Stop! Thief!” I run. People. Shoulder’s. Shoes. “Stop! Thief!”
Milkweed is an outstanding, interesting, historical fiction novel, by Jerry Spinelli, about a young boy, Misha, and his survival as a thieving Jew.
Misha wakes up not knowing who or where he is. He meets a kid named Uri, who gives Misha his name, and helps him find food and introduces him to other kids who steal to survive. He soon finds Janina, a young girl about his age, and becomes good friends with her. Soon after he meets Janina, they get kicked out of their house and have to move to a place with a wall around it surrounding the Jews called the Ghetto. They encounter many problems in The Ghetto, such as trying not to get shot, and not being able to steal as much food.
I would give this book an 8/10 because I think it was a good book and it kept me wondering what was going to happen next. Jerry Spinelli painted such a vivid picture in my mind of the places in the book that I could imagine being there and being chased by the people Misha stole from, and I could see the dead people on the ground without shoes, covered in newspaper.
I would recommend this book to anyone around the age of 12-15 who would be interested in reading about Nazi’s, The Ghetto, and a Jewish kid named Misha.