Jerry Spinelli has crafted a stark and horribly vivid portrayal of the Nazi occupation of Warsaw, Poland during WWII.
Through the eyes of a young vagabond we see a childlike view of what it was like to live through this horrific time.
Misha is a young boy who is orphaned and living on the streets. He is told he is a gypsy and given the name Misha, by his friend and protector Uri.
From this point on Misha progresses in his understanding of all that is going on around him... he comes face to face with "Jackboots", Nazi soldiers... "Flops", turncoat Jews tormenting their own people... and those being persecuted-- Jewish people.
The saddness of this story comes through loud and clear when Misha becomes attached to the Jewish family, the Milgorms. Misha befriends, Jainna a young girl and quickly becomes part of the family and embraces his background as a Jew.
I applaud Spinelli for writing this book. I realize there are many books written for middle school students on the Holocaust, but we must never stop reading about it... if we do we may forget just how terrible it really was. And if we, as tolerant caring people forget the horrors, we could easily slip back into the cruelty and utter stupidity of the Nazi tormentors. We must never become like them.... ever!
This is a mistake from history no one should ever repeat!
So as you read this... remember that all people have value and it's our job to make sure we never allow something like the holocaust to happen again.