Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli is a story about a forlorn soul that longs to belong and be accepted. Love, happiness, despair, misfortunes, and terrible tragedies interchange each other like a kaleidoscope of colors. There are many novels that describe the horrors of World War II, but this is the one that readers are going to remember, for it is about all of us, about our need for love and a desire to love back, the importance of companionship, and loyalty that outlasts wars, distance, and time.
The protagonist is just a little boy without any family, home or hope. He is free to do what he wants and go where he wishes. No one waits for him or cares about him, Warsaw is his home and its sky is the roof under his head. The day when he meets Uri becomes the day when his life changes. The most important thing is that he gets a name. One might think that there is nothing special about it, that it is just a simple word that is needed to identify people, but it is not like that. A nameless person is a person without a story. It is a shadow that people prefer not to notice. The little thief has a name now and it is Misha. He is so happy about it that he wants to shout it; Misha wants every citizen of Warsaw to know his name, the boy wants to be acknowledged.
When Misha gets a name, he gets a story. What a story it is! There is a family, a wagon, a horse, a fire, a song, and happiness. Misha even fails to comprehend what a terrible tragedy is about to take place, for he is so happy. Uri becomes his brother, a person he can rely on. The elder boy is also responsible for bringing new people into Misha’s life. It seems that Misha doesn’t bear a grudge against his old friend who turns out to be a traitor. He owes Uri that short period of sheer happiness that they share together before the troops march into the city and the madness begins.
Misha and Janina’s friendship lasts longer than Janina’s life. Though they meet accidentally, their lives interlink. Misha is a Gypsy, Janina is a Jew, together they are a pair of children who try to survive in the world that hates them for who they are. Misha also loves the Milgroms for a chance to have a family, though it is not the most loving or caring one. He doesn’t complain and accepts what he gets happily.
Milkweed leaves a bitter aftertaste. Misha lives to see the end of the war, but the life he leads is not the one any of us would dream about. Though he gets his chance at happiness in the face of Janina, his granddaughter whose happy smile reminds of the little girl he loses.
