Historical Fiction can be riveting

Citation:

Spinelli, Jerry. Milkweed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003.

Awards:

The Golden Kite Award winner

An ALA Best Book for Young Adults

A National Jewish Book Award Finalist

A Booklist Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth Selection

A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age

A Cooperative Children's Book Center Choice

A Book Links Lasting Connections Selection

Winner of the Carolyn W. Field Award

Annotation:

There is not much of a past to recall, and the future is uncertain. All certainty lies in finding food, staying warm, not getting caught by the Jackboots and above anything, the avoidance of being identified as a Jew.

Review:

The main character in this survival story set in Nazi occupied territory during World War II is a young boy. Is he an orphan? Is he a Gypsy? Is he a thief? Is he a Jew? Can he survive the unyielding torture brought to his land and people by the Nazis? Jerry Spinelli creates a vivid world where children and adolescents are faced with adult situations and responsibilities during one of the darkest times in the modern world. Where Anne Frank’s story is documented truth from the mind of a teenage girl, Milkweed provides a riveting vision of the same era from a fictitious character that I believe may have truly existed in reality through countless children and their war torn experiences.

Genre: Historical Fiction

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