1. Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli

4. Chapters 1-8 Vocabulary

5. Chapter 1 1. What are the earliest memories
described in this brief chapter?
2. Do you think this character is a boy
or girl? Why do you think he/she is a
thief?
3. The story takes place in Warsaw.
What country is Warsaw located in?

6. Chapter 2 1. How does the main character of the story meet Uri?
2. What does the character say his/her
name is?
3. Who are the Jackboots?

7. Chapter 3 1. Where does the main character meet the group of boys?
2. Why are the boys there?
3. What do we learn about the main character?
4. What do you think will happen to the boy? What
clues are given that indicate this?
5. Point of View - Point of view in literature refers to the
person telling the story. This person is called the
narrator. The narrator might be the author or a
character in the story. (A) From whose point of view is
this story told? (B) Why do you think the author chose
this point of view?

8. Chapter 4 1. Why were people making and moving sandbags?
2. Why do the people in the streetcar tell the boys to get
off?
3. Why do you think Uri tells the boy to, "Take only what
you need."?
4. Why did everyone leave the streetcar?
5. Why do you think the boys took the streetcar for a
joyride?

9. Chapter 5
1. Why were the air raid sirens silent the day the Nazis marched
into Warsaw?
2. Why do you think the boy was happy to see the Jackboots?
3. Why do you think everyone else was somber because of
the arrival of the Jackboots?
4. Metaphor - A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike
things without using like or as. For example:
We passed the black, twisted skeletons of streetcars.
(A) What is being compared?
(B) What does this tell about what has happened in
the city?

10. Chapter 6 1. What does Uri do when the boy talks to
the soldiers about the barbershop?
2. What does the boy finally realize at the
end of the chapter?

11. Chapter 7 1. How does the boy get a real name and a past?
2. What is the setting of Milkweed?
Please create the following organizer in
your folder and answer each item with a
complete sentence.

12. Chapter 7- cont.

13. Chapter 8 1. When Misha attends Janina's birthday
party why does he steal the cake?
2. Why are mobs of people painting yellow
stars on stores?
3. What is Misha glad about?

14. Chapter 9-15 Vocabulary

15. Chapter 9 1. Where does Uri take the extra bread
that Misha steals? Why?
2. Why do you think Uri, Misha, and the
other boys from the stable are not living
at the orphanage?

16. Chapter 10 1. Who shoots at Misha and why?
2. What does Misha want to believe in? What does Uri
believe in?
3. A simile is a figure of speech in which two unlike
objects are compared using the words “like” or “as.”
For example: The streetlights were like moons cupped
in iron fingers.
(A) What is being compared?
(B) What does this reveal about the narrator’s view of the
world around him?

17. Chapter 11 1. Why are all the trees disappearing?
2. Uri and later Misha find black pearls and give them to
the orphanage. What are black pearls?
3. Personification is a figure of speech in which an
author grants human qualities to a nonhuman object.
For example: One, a thick, burly monster of a tree with
warts, came down with a high, thin wail that sounded
like a baby crying.
(A) What is being personified?
(B) What does this reveal about the narrator’s
feelings?

18. Chapter 12
1. Why do you think Uri tells Misha to be
“invisible”?

19. Chapter 13
1. After Misha gets thrown off the Merry-go-round how do the
other boys and girls treat him?
2. Why does Doctor Korczak pull Misha inside the orphanage
when he tries to get the children for a ride on the Merry-go-
round?
3. Symbolism - A symbol in literature is an object, person, or
event that represents an idea or set of ideas.
(A) What do you think the black horse on the merry-go-
round might have symbolized?
(B) What do you think the fox-face furs with the beady black
eyes symbolize?

20. Chapter 14 1. Does the lack of evidence about the
broken horse on the merry-go-round
stop the people from finding a suspect?
Why do they automatically think it’s a
Jew?

21. Chapter 15
1. Why is Misha invisible to all the Jews going to the ghetto except
for Doctor Korczak and Janina’s family?
2. Why did most people refuse Misha’s offer of a bite of his
sausage?
3. Dramatic irony is a device, usually found in plays, in which one
character is unaware of information that the audience or reader
knows. It is used to create tension or provide humor.
(A) What is the dramatic irony in the scene when Misha
accompanies Janina’s family on their way to the ghetto?
(B) What is the effect of the device?

22. Chapter Vocabulary

23. Chapter 16 1. What is being built and why?
2. What did Janina’s father, Mr. Milgrom,
do?

24. Chapter 17 1. Who do you think might have turned in the boys at the
stable?
2. What type of work do Janina’s parents do after entering the
ghetto?
3. Why does Misha think he’s a lucky orphan?
4. Simile
(A) What is being compared in the following simile?
The bricks were red, the sky was brilliant blue, the knots
in the barbed wire sparkled like ladies’ earrings.
(B) How does Misha’s observation reveal his state of mind?
Why didn’t he simply say, “the knots in the barbed wire
were shiny”?

25. Chapter 18 1. What does Misha notice that everyone else is ignoring?
2. What do you think happened to the
shoes and socks of the dead people on
the street?
Typhus: Disease caused by bacteria that is spread by lice and ticks; usually in very poor and cold areas where hygiene is bad.

26. Theme Write
A stereotype is an oversimplified image of a group of people, usually held in common by some part of society.
1. How can stereotypes be harmful?
2. What do you think people can do to overcome
stereotyping?
3. Have you ever noticed any examples of
stereotyping in your community or in the
media? (provide example)