Blog for the Week of 12/10/14

Milkweed By Jerry Spinelli

Pages #21-127

Prompt:  List the personality characteristics of the main character (feelings, interests, behaviors, etc.)

       Misha is very oblivious. He has spent his whole life on the streets of Warsaw. Before he met Uri and all of the other boys on the street, the only thing he knew was to steal and run. However when Uri took him in he learned a lot from him. Uri taught him about Jews and Gypsies. He told him what he could and couldn't do. Misha sometimes didn't listen. Uri got furious when he didn't listen, he punished Misha by hitting him. 

          Misha was also curious. He was always asking question about things like heaven and Jews and things he just had to do. He questioned the armband for the Jews and why they were moved to the ghetto. I feel like he didn't understand how the world worked. The worst thing he questioned or didn't understand was the Jackboots (the Nazis). He wanted to be one, he thought when they were walking down the street it was a parade and he wanted to be in it. 
  
         Misha loved Hazelnut buttercreams. Before he was in the ghetto that was all he wanted to eat (or steal). Misha also loved the black horse on the merry-go-round. When he first saw the merry-go-round it was all he thought about. He had dreams he was riding it, he even snuck out after curfew to try to ride it. However it didn't understand how electricity and lights work. When he discovered it was gone he was broken. Other things got him over it. 

Blog for the week of 12/1/14

Milkweed By Jerry Spinelli

Pages #1-21

Prompt: Describe the main characters

       The very main character doesn't have a name. He actually has several Jew, Gypsy, Stopthief, but what his friend Uri named him was Misha Pilsudski. Uri also came up with an entire backstory for his name. Misha has been an orphan since he can remember. The only world he know is the city of Warsaw in Poland. He is small and has black hair. Misha is fast and a great thief. He is probably about eight years old, so he doesn't know a lot. He doesn't seem to understand how certain people don't like Jews and what a Jew even is. (This book takes place during WW2.)

           Uri is Misha's friend. He is a Jewish boy with very red hair. Uri let Misha stay with him in an abandoned barbershop. Uri is teaching things Misha needs to know such as: stealing, staying out of trouble, who he is, why people hate certain people, etc. Uri is a tough and sneaky boy. He is an expert at stealing food and things he needs. Uri has a lot of street smarts, which will help him and Misha get through this war.

           Uri was running away from people who were trying to catch him from stealing when he found a garden with bright red tomatoes. He went into the sat down and ate them. A little girl was staring at him from the house with the garden. The next day she was in her yard waiting for Misha. Her name is Janina.  The author describes her with big brown eyes and curly blonde hair. She is seven years old.