Taking Risks In Milkweed By Jerry Spinelli

Imagine yourself waking up one day to not knowing your own identity but all you know is that you were left by yourself having to steal and provide for your own. Taking risks when you know how dangerous it is but if you were to not do these things you would die. At night you hear and see all these bads things happen but may not even know what’s going on. You have no one but yourself trying to survive.

The book “Milkweed,” by Jerry Spinelli taken place in Warsaw, Poland during the years of World War II during the Holocaust the evening before the jackboots came to attack the streets of the Ghetto.

The novel opens with Misha Piłsudski the main character meets his mentor Uri while stealing from an old lady. Uri begins teaches him important things

about the Ghetto like what not to do and things that are going to keep Misha from getting in trouble.

At this time he also meets the rest of the orphan boys but as they start to question who he is he can not speak upon himself because he knows nothing. Before misha knew who he was and where he came from the boys would call him Jew, Gypsy or stop thief and everyone else in the city just saw hm as another Jew. At first, he tells Uri that he wants to be a Jackboot. Uri becomes angry and tells him "you are what you are," meaning that he will never be a Jackboot. Uri seems to know that the boy has no idea what is really going on and as a result, he tries to shield the boy from their reality. Throughout the book Misha witnesses the destruction of Jewish homes and businesses in Warsaw. He thinks to himself, "I'm glad I'm not a Jew." Prophetically, Uri tells him not to be too glad.Towards the middle of the book Misha comes very close to his new friend Janina but later founds out she was moved to the other side of the wall so then Misha figures he can not leave her so decides to sneak out at night so he would then get caught and be able to move with Janina.Janina’s family starts to consider Misha part of the family and allows him one night to sleep in there home but only to find out this is the night they will all be called out to the

streets. As everyone races down the stairs and outside to quickly line up Mr.Milgrom starts to explain to Misha how important it is to stand straight up so when the Jackboots came his way that he would not get beat. Misha begins to hear people get beat and can't resist to look over his shoulder but he was pulled back to the line by Mr,Milgrom and continued to stand there for hours listening to people scream and smell the stink of the people in front and behind him.After hours of standing in the streets everyone was able to return home but Misha laid there at night thinking about what really just happened. Janina one night found Misha sneaking out through one of the holes in the walls and decided she would go with. This became a regular thing between them until one night when they returned some boy was getting beaten for stealing food and bringing it through the walls so Misha told Janina she could not come anymore and she didn't listen she still went just by herself now.As time passes, the conditions of the ghetto worsen. One day as Misha is “walking along,”[13] Uri appears. Uri, who has been gone for a long time, warns Misha that deportations are coming, and that all of the people will be cleared out of the ghetto. Some time later, an old man appears advising the people that there is no resettlement, and instead the Jews are going to be taken away and killed. That night, Janina’s father Mr. Milgrom tells Misha that when he and Janina go out to steal, they need to run away. Janina and Misha stay in Poland though because Janina refuses to leave and kicks Misha when he tries to take her away. Janina drags Misha to the Ghetto only to find the room where they had lived deserted. Janina runs in desperation to find her father, and Misha loses sight of her in the crowd of people. Following, he sees her thrown into a boxcar by a Jackboot. Misha is hit with a club, and kicked before Uri, who appears to be a Jackboot, shoots him.
Misha awakens near the train tracks in a state of confusion.

A farmer finds him and takes him to a farm where Misha stays for three years working and sleeping in a barn with the animals and eventually runs

away.
Not knowing what to do next, he rides on trains and ends up back in Warsaw where “there is rubble and he then removes his armband leaving it on the sidewalk. Jack (Misha changes his name when moving to America) talks wildly about his past in the streets for years. Most people try to ignore him, except for a woman named Vivian who stops to listen to his stories. She marries him but she got tired of Jack's strange and weird acts so she decided to leaves after five months; pregnant. Many years pass, and we find Jack working in a Bag ‘n Go market when his daughter and granddaughter walk in. Jack still thinks of Janina, although he will tell nobody, and he digs up the milkweed plant and plants it in his own back yard
Because Jerry Spinelli used descriptive language, mind opening twists in the stories and really showed how the characters were feeling, I recommend “milkweed,” to understand the years of world war II during Holocaust.