Book Review

Title;Milkweed

Author: Jerry Spinelli

# of pages:208

Publisher: Scholastic

Place and Date of Publication:New York 2005

Where I found the book: Christian Heritage School Library

Genre: historical, realistic-fiction

Milkweed

Milkweed is written from an old man's point of view, looking back on his own life as a young, Gypsy boy from Poland, living in the streets of Warsaw, in 1939 during WWII. He doesn't know who he is or his own past. During a day of stealing bread from women in fur coats, he is grabbed by an older boy, with red hair, named Uri. He brings him to his group of friends and introduces him to everyone. Uri gives him the name Misha Pilsudsky and gives him a story.Misha loved his story. When they are out, they see an army of Nazis. A soldier was smiling down on him and stood tall with the tallest, blackest, shiniest boots Misha has ever seen and continues to march off. Misha wanted to become one and have tall, shiny boots of his own.He thinks that 'Jackboots' are the some of the nicest people. One day while he is looking for food in someone's garden, he meets seven year old Janina Milgrom. As days go by, food is starting to get less and less on the shelves of stores and Jackboots start to become cruel. Misha begins to stay with Janina most of the time and sees Uri less. On one night, soldiers invade the house and force everybody to line up. Then they start to beat Janina's mom and her Uncle Shepsel. That day he loses his identity as Misha Pilsudsky the Gypsy and becomes Misha Pilsudsky the Jew. Janina starts to see him as her older brother and Mr. Milgrom thinks of him as a son. She starts to follow him around and goes with him on his food runs at night. The Milgroms begin to lose all hope but he tries to stay positive. On another terrible day, Jews are taken away on trains, but Misha and Janina are told to hide and are left behind. One day Janina runs away and he tries to catch her until he gets shot in the earlobe by a soldier. Misha sees a familiar flash of red hair, could it be? But the most important thing for him is to find his sister Janina. I think that this author used the title Milkweed because it is mentioned in the book a couple of times.

-Christian Perspective-

I think that this book was not written in a Christian perspective. It does talk about angels and heaven but it doesn't talk about God. If it was, it would talk about God and praying. If the characters were Christian they would have strong faith in God. This book also has some non Christ-like attitudes from the older boys in Uri's group of friends.

-My Thoughts-

I liked this book and the reason why I chose this book because it sounded very interesting to read.I think that Milkweed is good to read for young adults. This book is about wars and history. I would recommend this to people who like realistic-fiction, history or who are interested about the World Wars because this is what Milkweed. This book also gives you an idea how it was to live during WWII and living during hard times. I liked this book because Misha tries to keep a positive attitude and I thought that this book was well written. The reason why I didn't like it is because it retells of a sad life. But it has a happy ending to the story.

Hope Ya Read the Book!:)