We have read 70 pages of the first of our literary circle books. It is called Milkweed and is written by Jerry Spinelli who actually wrote another book that I have read called Maniac Magee, which was frankly terrible. However, unlike Maniac Magee, I'm so far enjoying Milkweed very much.
Milkweed is a novel set in World War II, Warsaw. It begins with a young boy, probably around 10. He has no idea of his identity, parents or place of birth whatsoever. He finds himself in Warsaw, Poland and steals some bread due to his hunger after running for days on end. Uri, a Jew finds him stealing and shares the bread with him. Uri then takes the boy (at this point in the book, known as Stopthief) and takes him back to his place of living, the basement of a barber shop. There, he becomes companions of many other Jews under hiding and practically lives in luxury compared to his previous experiences. There, Uri creates the boy's identity saying that his name is Misha Pillsugski and he is a gypsy, not a jew. He has 7 brothers and 5 sisters. His mother was a fortuneteller and he was cursed to be short by an unhappy customer of his mother's.
Unfortunately, the Nazi's or as naive Misha calls them, Jackboots, kick Misha, Uri and friends out of their hairdresser basement and Uri and Misha find themselves on the street. They survive by stealing stuff, which is easy for Misha to do, due to his tiny size.
One day, Misha stumbles across a tomato tree with very tempting tomatoes on it, a rare sight at that time of the year. However, he is caught while eating by a young girl called Janina. She tells him that she is Jewish, but that he must keep that a secret. Slowly, the begin to form a friendship. Because they are unable to meet every day, they begin a cycle of leaving gifts for one another. One night Misha leaves a loaf of bread at Janina's door and in return she gives him a gift of some sort: buttons, ribbons or small plastic dogs.
So far, I'm really enjoying Milkweed due to the fact that historical fiction is definitely one of my favourite genres.
Unfortunately, the Nazi's or as naive Misha calls them, Jackboots, kick Misha, Uri and friends out of their hairdresser basement and Uri and Misha find themselves on the street. They survive by stealing stuff, which is easy for Misha to do, due to his tiny size.
One day, Misha stumbles across a tomato tree with very tempting tomatoes on it, a rare sight at that time of the year. However, he is caught while eating by a young girl called Janina. She tells him that she is Jewish, but that he must keep that a secret. Slowly, the begin to form a friendship. Because they are unable to meet every day, they begin a cycle of leaving gifts for one another. One night Misha leaves a loaf of bread at Janina's door and in return she gives him a gift of some sort: buttons, ribbons or small plastic dogs.
So far, I'm really enjoying Milkweed due to the fact that historical fiction is definitely one of my favourite genres.
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