Book Of The Month For January

Milkweed by, Jerry Spinelli. I give this book 5 stars. I was surprised and impressed to read a book of this genre from Jerry Spinelli. He does a great job bringing the reader into the life of a little boy Misha and seeing the harsh realities of the Holocaust through his eyes.

The innocents of a sweet child is felt as Misha tries to live and understand the happenings as Poland is invaded by the Nazi's. Misha is an orphan finding his own on the streets in Warsaw during WWII. Misha admires the "jackboots" the Nazi soldiers and hales Hitler without any true knowing of the ugliness behind it all.

Misha assumes his name is "Stopthief" and grows found of a Jewish family all while trying to understand the rules of life as an orphan in the ghetto.

This book is focused primarily on this boys life on the streets and not on the concentration camps which allows a raw, naive outlook through a childs eyes.

I give this a PG rating.