Milkweed Blog Post #1

I just started reading the book Milkweed, by Jerry Spinelli. Milkweed is a book about a boy who is living in the city of Warsaw. He may be living in the Ghetto. He doesn't recall having parents, brothers or sisters, or any other kind of family. He doesn't even know his name. He thinks his name is Stopthief, just because so many people have said that to him; He steals food as well as other items for a living.

In the beginning of the book, he is with his new friend, Uri. He is meeting Uri for the first time. Uri is a Jewish orphan that lives with many other Jewish orphans on the streets of the Warsaw Ghetto. The year is 1939. The main character, wants to be a Nazi. He admires the Nazis, with their wonderful jackboots and their hats with gleaming eagles. He is a Gypsy.

Everyday, He sees Nazi Soldiers doing something wrong to Jews. He doesn't understand what is actually going on, so he assumes it is just a harmless game or something. I have a pretty good sense of identifying anti-semitism and deciding if the book takes place during the Holocaust, being that I've previously learned about the Holocaust. This Boy has absolutely no clue what is going on. To me, it's obvious that anti-semitism is occurring in the story. The Jackboots have been saying bad things about Jews. The Nazis haven't taken these kids in the Warsaw Ghetto to concentration camps yet; they are still free to roam around inside the Ghetto barriers.

Something bad is about to happen. I haven't seen what yet, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be taken to a concentration camp. I can't really identify an actual problem in the story. The Boy is happy. However, I know something terrible is about to happen. Spinelli has done an excellent job keeping this story exciting. I can't wait until I can read more and figure out what the problem is.