Milkweed (Readers Circle) 
asked by shakeonit on November 16, 2006 3:14 PM
Newbery Medal-winning author Jerry Spinelli (Maniac McGee, Stargirl) paints a vivid picture of the streets of the Nazi-occupied Warsaw during World War II, as seen through the eyes of a curious, kind, heartbreakingly naïve orphan with many names. His name is Stopthief when people shout "Stop! Thief!" as he flees with stolen bread. Or it's Jew, "filthy son of Abraham," depending on who's talking to him. Or, maybe he's a Gypsy, because his eyes are black, his skin is dark, and he wears a mysterious yellow stone around his neck. His new friend and protector Uri forces him to take the name Misha Pilsudski and to memorize a made-up story about his Gypsy background so that no one will mistake him for a Jew and kill him. Misha, a very young boy, is slow to understand what's happening around him. When he sees people running, he thinks it's a race. Nazis (Jackboots, as the children call them) marching through the streets appear to him as a delightful parade of magnificent boots. He wants to be a Jackboot! (Uri smacks him for saying this.) He compares bombs to sauerkraut kettles, machine guns to praying mantises, and tanks to "colossal gray long-snouted beetles." The story of Misha and his band of orphans trying to survive on their own would have a deliciously Dickensian quality, if it weren't for the devastation around them--people hurrying to dig trenches to stop Nazi tanks, shops exploding in flames, the wailing of sirens, buzzing airplanes, bombs, and human torture. Spinelli has written a powerfully moving story of survival--readers will love Misha the dreamer and his wonderfully poetic observations of the world around him, his instinct to befriend a Jewish girl and her family, his impulse to steal food for a local orphanage and his friends in the ghetto, and his ability to delight in small things even surrounded by the horror of the Holocaust. A remarkable achievement. (Ages 11 and older) --Karin Snelson
Reviews
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I read a great book Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli is a strong historical fiction that takes place in Warsaw, Poland and tells the troubles that the Jews had to face during the holocaust.
It is about a boy with many names, stopthief, Misha Pilsudiski, A filthy son of Abraham, a Jew, and a gypsy. He stays with Misha. He befriends an orphan named Uri who steals to live. Misha also meets the other boys that live with Uri. Along the way he meets Janina who is a Jew who is herded to the ghetto with her family by the Nazi. Soon the boy are captured and thrown in the ghetto where disease and starvation was killing many people every day. Every night Misha and Janina sneak through a hole in the wall that the Nazi built to keep the Jews in and steal food for their family.
The main problem is when Hitler orders the Nazis to take the Jews away and Janina is caught when they go stealing one night. Misha has to choose to die but save Janina or live and never see her again.
My favorite part was when Misha hear the story Uri gave him. It is about how his parents were killed and his brothers and sisters were killed in a bomb and he was kidnapped escaped in to Warsaw and met Uri.
This book is very moving and I would give it five stars. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes action, adventure, and sorrow. You will love this book.
It is about a boy with many names, stopthief, Misha Pilsudiski, A filthy son of Abraham, a Jew, and a gypsy. He stays with Misha. He befriends an orphan named Uri who steals to live. Misha also meets the other boys that live with Uri. Along the way he meets Janina who is a Jew who is herded to the ghetto with her family by the Nazi. Soon the boy are captured and thrown in the ghetto where disease and starvation was killing many people every day. Every night Misha and Janina sneak through a hole in the wall that the Nazi built to keep the Jews in and steal food for their family.
The main problem is when Hitler orders the Nazis to take the Jews away and Janina is caught when they go stealing one night. Misha has to choose to die but save Janina or live and never see her again.
My favorite part was when Misha hear the story Uri gave him. It is about how his parents were killed and his brothers and sisters were killed in a bomb and he was kidnapped escaped in to Warsaw and met Uri.
This book is very moving and I would give it five stars. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes action, adventure, and sorrow. You will love this book.
reviewed by pauls on November 27, 2006 6:19 PM
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Milkweed is the name of an awesome Nutmeg book that I have been reading for the past week. Jerry Spinelli is the talented author that wrote Milkweed. Milkweed takes place in Warsaw and the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland during World War 2 (1939-1945) when the Nazi's (or as they call them in the book Jackboots) invaded Poland.
The main character is this book doesn't have a name or a family and doesn't own any thing except for the yellow stone necklace that he has had since he can remember. He meets up with a bunch of orphans that are Jewish and thieves in Warsaw who assume he is gypsy because of his stone necklace. One of the orphans named Uri takes him in and takes care of him and teaches him how to steal and survive. Then one day Uri decides he needs a name and a story. So Uri gives him the name Misha Pilsudski and says that Misha was born a gypsy somewhere in Russia. His family included 2 great grand fathers a great grandmother who was 109 years old, his father who as a horse trader, his mother who told fortune cards (which told you who were going to marry and how you would die). Misha also had 7 brothers and 5 sisters. They traveled from place to place in 7 wagons pulled by 14 horses. One of the places they came to was Poland where they were bombed by a Nazi airplane. They saw the bomb coming so they scattered in 7 different directions. Misha scattered away with his parents. Misha's parents were tied up by Polish farmers and kept Misha as a slave. Eventually Misha did run away in Uri's story to Warsaw where Uri taught him how to survive. One day while Misha was stealing from a garden he meets a little girl named Janina who is the only person that he has ever meet that as smaller than him. Misha and Janina become very close friends and when they move into the Ghetto Misha becomes apart of her family.
Misha sees all the Jews marching out of the city like a parade. (Misha loves parades) When he sees Janina he decides to march with her and her family. Misha and Janina's family keep marching until they are in the Warsaw ghetto. Where the Jackboots are slowly starving them in the ghetto. After Misha is accepted to Janina's family he decides to take matters into his own hands and find food for his new family.
My favorite part in this book was when Misha was invited to Janina's party. (Before they were in the ghetto) This part was funny because Misha cannot tell time so he got there very late and Janina would not start the party with out him so some of her guests had already left. When they sat down to eat cake Janina's father lit the birthday candles on the cake and Misha thought that they were lighting the cake on fire. So he grabbed the cake and ran all the way home. When he told Uri what happened all Uri could do was laugh.
I would give this book 5 stars, because Jerry Spinelli describes everything with lots of detail. It is also a very interesting plot. I would defiantly recommend this book to everyone
The main character is this book doesn't have a name or a family and doesn't own any thing except for the yellow stone necklace that he has had since he can remember. He meets up with a bunch of orphans that are Jewish and thieves in Warsaw who assume he is gypsy because of his stone necklace. One of the orphans named Uri takes him in and takes care of him and teaches him how to steal and survive. Then one day Uri decides he needs a name and a story. So Uri gives him the name Misha Pilsudski and says that Misha was born a gypsy somewhere in Russia. His family included 2 great grand fathers a great grandmother who was 109 years old, his father who as a horse trader, his mother who told fortune cards (which told you who were going to marry and how you would die). Misha also had 7 brothers and 5 sisters. They traveled from place to place in 7 wagons pulled by 14 horses. One of the places they came to was Poland where they were bombed by a Nazi airplane. They saw the bomb coming so they scattered in 7 different directions. Misha scattered away with his parents. Misha's parents were tied up by Polish farmers and kept Misha as a slave. Eventually Misha did run away in Uri's story to Warsaw where Uri taught him how to survive. One day while Misha was stealing from a garden he meets a little girl named Janina who is the only person that he has ever meet that as smaller than him. Misha and Janina become very close friends and when they move into the Ghetto Misha becomes apart of her family.
Misha sees all the Jews marching out of the city like a parade. (Misha loves parades) When he sees Janina he decides to march with her and her family. Misha and Janina's family keep marching until they are in the Warsaw ghetto. Where the Jackboots are slowly starving them in the ghetto. After Misha is accepted to Janina's family he decides to take matters into his own hands and find food for his new family.
My favorite part in this book was when Misha was invited to Janina's party. (Before they were in the ghetto) This part was funny because Misha cannot tell time so he got there very late and Janina would not start the party with out him so some of her guests had already left. When they sat down to eat cake Janina's father lit the birthday candles on the cake and Misha thought that they were lighting the cake on fire. So he grabbed the cake and ran all the way home. When he told Uri what happened all Uri could do was laugh.
I would give this book 5 stars, because Jerry Spinelli describes everything with lots of detail. It is also a very interesting plot. I would defiantly recommend this book to everyone
reviewed by steelers on November 29, 2006 4:04 PM
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tom c.
This is a story from the Holocaust. Spinelli has been able to do something quite remarkable in this novel. We read the book knowing that it was a harsh, racist, hateful society. These events let us know all this information of the Nazi invasion yet we see the events through the eyes of a young boy.
The only name he knows to call himself is Stopthief because he survives by stealing stuff. He is a child totally alone. He is given the name Misha by another boy who befriends and protects him. Misha's family becomes a group of homeless orphan boys scratching out a life on the streets of Warsaw; barely surviving.
Misha is totally innocent and ignorant, so he only lives in the present. As we read of the Nazi invasion we know the horrors ahead. Misha, however, sees the "Jackboots" as something wonderful; he perceives their mocking salutes as a mark of respect. Their parade entering the city is a marvel to him. Events he witnesses lead him to slowly understand that being a Jew is dangerous. Behind the walls of the Warsaw ghetto, his kind heart and small size allow him to sneak out and smuggle food back in for his friends. The reader fears for Misha though he feels no fear for himself or others.
My favorite part of this book part is when Micha meets Janina his "sister" who is very talkative, and whiny. I like this part because it reminds me of me because I have ADHD, and so I talk a lot just like Janina.
Spinelli allows the reader to hear, see and feel the cruelness of the Holocaust. This is a book that everyone should read. This story is important and compelling because it gets you hooked in minutes and very into the book. I would give the book five stars but reread it a second time it helps a lot, to understand the events. Also I think it is good because Jerry Spinelli is taking us into the book, it feels as if you were there.
reviewed by scoobie on November 29, 2006 5:36 PM
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Nate Carl
LA4
11/15/06
I read a wonderful book called Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. It is a historical fiction book set during WWII in Warsaw, Poland.
The main characters in the story were Misha, a boy who tries to find his family; Yuri, who becomes Misha's only friend in the beginning; and Janina, who became his friend in the middle of the book. All of the Jewish people in Warsaw were attacked by the Nazis, or "Jackboots", and were forced to live in the ghetto. Misha was a boy trying to find his family who wanted to become a Nazi in the beginning, but then changed his mind during the story. The book is mainly about what the Nazis did to the Jewish people and about Misha trying to survive this time.
My favorite part of the book was when Yuri and Misha were living (like kings) stealing food and living well. I liked this part because it showed that the two boys were better off than other people in Warsaw at the time.
I really loved this book because it showed what the Nazis did to the Jewish people. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves historical fiction, or books about the WWII
LA4
11/15/06
I read a wonderful book called Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. It is a historical fiction book set during WWII in Warsaw, Poland.
The main characters in the story were Misha, a boy who tries to find his family; Yuri, who becomes Misha's only friend in the beginning; and Janina, who became his friend in the middle of the book. All of the Jewish people in Warsaw were attacked by the Nazis, or "Jackboots", and were forced to live in the ghetto. Misha was a boy trying to find his family who wanted to become a Nazi in the beginning, but then changed his mind during the story. The book is mainly about what the Nazis did to the Jewish people and about Misha trying to survive this time.
My favorite part of the book was when Yuri and Misha were living (like kings) stealing food and living well. I liked this part because it showed that the two boys were better off than other people in Warsaw at the time.
I really loved this book because it showed what the Nazis did to the Jewish people. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves historical fiction, or books about the WWII
reviewed by james58 on November 29, 2006 6:44 PM
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Milkweed
I read a Nutmeg book titled Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. It is an excellent book set during World War II.
The main characters are Uri and Misha Pilldulski. Uri is a friend of Misha who takes care of him. Misha is 8 years old and not very smart. He doesn't know what's going on in the world.
The main problem of the book occurs when Misha wants to become Nazi (Jackboot) but then realizes how people with different religions were being treated.
My favorite part was when Uri and Misha go to the ghetto for Jews, this is my favorite part because they finally find out that Misha is not a Jew he is a gypsy. This was important because gypsies were being treated better than Jews.
I really enjoyed this book because it was action packed and very suspenseful. Also, in some parts I felt like I was there running with him in the streets of the ghetto.
I would highly recommend this book for kids 10 or up because it's is not really appropriate for kids younger than 10.Its a good book if you like a lot of action and adventure because that is what the book is all about. I would give this book 4 stars.
I read a Nutmeg book titled Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. It is an excellent book set during World War II.
The main characters are Uri and Misha Pilldulski. Uri is a friend of Misha who takes care of him. Misha is 8 years old and not very smart. He doesn't know what's going on in the world.
The main problem of the book occurs when Misha wants to become Nazi (Jackboot) but then realizes how people with different religions were being treated.
My favorite part was when Uri and Misha go to the ghetto for Jews, this is my favorite part because they finally find out that Misha is not a Jew he is a gypsy. This was important because gypsies were being treated better than Jews.
I really enjoyed this book because it was action packed and very suspenseful. Also, in some parts I felt like I was there running with him in the streets of the ghetto.
I would highly recommend this book for kids 10 or up because it's is not really appropriate for kids younger than 10.Its a good book if you like a lot of action and adventure because that is what the book is all about. I would give this book 4 stars.
reviewed by webster on November 29, 2006 7:30 PM