Milkweed
Jerry Spinelli
Summary
For many seasons, a homeless boy that doesn't know anything about himself or his family, has been stealing food to survive. He lives on the streets of Warsaw, Poland. One day when he was running from people; he ran into a boy just like him. The boy's name was Uri. For a long time the boy wanders the streets with Uri. Every night they sleep in empty horse stables, ruble from bombed buildings, or empty cellars. Uri teaches the boy a lot of things on how to survive on the streets. One morning they get awoken by Nazi's storming into the stable. They then get taken to the Warsaw Ghetto. The boy starts to live with a Jewish family that he met before he went in the ghetto. It now depends on him to keep himself and the family alive by going through a crack in the wall of the ghetto, to steal food from the other side.
Theme
The theme of this book was to never give up on hope. In the book the young boy was always trying any kind of way to get food for survival. Even though he was in the Warsaw Ghetto, it did not mean he did not have food for survival. He would always found ways to escape the ghetto either through two brick holes in the wall or through the crowd coming in or out the ghetto.
Map of the Warsaw Ghetto
Starvation
The wall of the Warsaw Ghetto
Historical Event
The Warsaw Ghetto was built during WWII. It was built in Warsaw, Poland to keep the Jews apart from the other people until the Jews where brought away to the death camps. 83,000 Jews died of starvation between 1940 and 1942. There was a lot of smuggling for food and Medicine to keep themself from starving. It was mostly the children that died because they where a lot weaker. Every Jew in the ghetto had to wear a wrist band on when they went outside so people knew that they belonged there.
Historical Event Reflection
The author kept most of the information the same. Like about how there many dead bodies on the streets. The author even had they way people smuggled through the wall the same. Even about how most of the bodies where from children. The author also kept the information about the holes and cracks in the walls that people smuggled through the same.