Milkweed

In this story, a boy with no name and no family ends up with both. It is the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of a young, small boy. He has no background but is told he's a Gypsy by his older friend Uri. He is told his name is Misha Pilsudski. He doesn't have any memory of his family, but he adopts this identity as if it was his from birth, holding on dearly to the yellow stone around his neck that he believes was given him by his father. Eventually, Misha befriends a girl named Janina and gets himself adopted into her family. Now, Misha is Jewish and lives in the ghetto in Warsaw, Poland, guarded by Jackboots (Nazi's) and Flops (Jewish bullies elected to keep the others "in line"). Together Misha and Janina escape from the ghetto through a hole in the wall to get food from Heaven every night, the other side. Misha is a runner, small and nimble, built for this particular task. He believes it is his role in the world.

I have a really hard time reading about the Holocaust. I usually cry a lot, affected by everything I read. With this one, I at least knew Misha wouldn't die...surely Jerry Spinelli wouldn't do that to his readers! What I did really find inspiring, though, was the way Spinelli continued the story even after the Holocaust was over. There were many quirky characters and plot turns to keep the story moving, but when it was all said and done, it was all about Misha. Because the focus wasn't necessarily the war, the story kept going as Misha lived his life into adulthood. For most of his life, he was really lonely, and never shared the story of Janina (his best friend and sister) with anyone, keeping Janina all to himself. I've been considering that maybe he kept Janina to himself because he felt guilty that he couldn't save her or her family, like he was supposed to. My heart breaks for him when he stands on a street corner ranting about the horrors of the war, tearing up copies of Hansel and Gretel whenever he finds them, eventually marrying and then losing his wife. Though the end is a whirlwind of his life and the majority of the story is during the war, it is necessary because the war had such an impact on his life. Many of the details of his life ended when Janina was taken.

This is a great book for historical fiction. In the interview with Jerry Spinelli at the back of this edition, he notes that he researched for months before he began writing. I'd be interested to know where he got the idea to name the novel Milkweed and integrate it in the story. I imagine he wrote about milkweed (dandelions) first, and named the novel last, as the milkweed symbolized hope in the ghetto.