Milkweed is a 2003

2003 in literature

The year 2003 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Peter Ackroyd - The Clerkenwell Tales*Atsuko Asano - No...

 historical fiction

Historical fiction

Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author Jerry Spinelli

Jerry Spinelli

Jerry Spinelli is an author of children's novels on adolescence and early adulthood. He is best known for the novels Maniac Magee and Wringer....

. The book is about a boy in Warsaw, Poland in the years of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 during the Holocaust. Over time, he learns that he is a Gypsy but he is taken in by a Jewish group of orphans, so he must avoid the German troops (or "Jackboots") while living off the streets with other orphans. The story narrator is the boy in the future living in America recalling his past experiences.