What is "Milkweed" by Jerry Spinelli about?

"Milkweed" is a young adult novel about an orphaned boy living in Warsaw, Poland at the beginning of the Holocaust and World War II. The boy doesn't understand who he is or what's happening around him as the Nazis begin their brutal campaign of extermination against the Jews.

At the opening of story, the boy has no identity and steals food to survive. As the story progresses, he assumes various names as he establishes relationships with some of the people he encounters. Gradually, he comes to realize the cruel fate the Jews in Warsaw are facing and is forced to make a decision about his identity, one that determines whether he will be subject to extermination.