Chapter 1-6

Stones in Water is about 4 boys. They are Roberto, Sergio, Memo, and Samuele and they are all Italian. Samuele is a little more special because he is Jewish. Why is he so special? Well, it takes place in World War 2 when people didn't like Jews. For example, Sergio and Roberto are brothers and their family does not like Jews. The only one that does like Jews is Roberto. Roberto does not know why people dislike the Jews. Samuele is his friend, Jewish or not.

One day Roberto and Memo decide to go see an old Western Movie. On the way to meeting Memo, Roberto ends up taking Samuele and Sergio. On the way to the movie Sergio tells the boys that it is not safe for Samuele to be going to the theater. So, they decide to make Samuele take off his Jewish star.

At the theater German soldiers storm in and push people out of the theater. Then the boys are separated into 2 groups, young and old. The boys are marched in their 2 groups to the Mestre train station where they board the 2 train cars. Once the train starts moving to the west, Roberto starts to worry since this is the wrong way to get back home. Roberto doesn't understand what is going on. The Germans and Italians are on the same side! He is also scared because his brother is with the older boys, but at least he is with Samuele and Memo.

On the train many things happen. First of all the train stops, but no one gets out, but more people get in the train car. Second, no one is given food and the boys are hungry. Third, the boys almost get in big trouble because they start walking toward the door of the train car. A German soldier stops them, but they tell him they just needed to use the restroom. Fourth, they get to the Austrian border and 3 boys decide to get off. The 3 boys are escorted off the train onto the platform where they are shot. At this point the boys are scared and decide to just blend in.

When the train gets to Munich Germany the boys are allowed off the train. While off the train the boys go to the bathroom and are given food, they even see Nazi soldiers. The boys are worried for Samuele because the Nazi's hate the Jews, so they give Samuele the name Enzo. Then the boys have to line up to be chosen by a soldier. "Enzo" and Roberto are chosen together, but Memo is not. The 2 boys must leave their friend and walk through the city to the woods. Then they have to start digging through the hot sunny day. While digging, one of the boys faints and is kicked till Roberto stands up for the kid and gets himself in trouble. Roberto is put into a truck, so Enzo gets himself into trouble to be with Roberto.

The 2 boys get to their new destination, which is a farm, and work for a month. Now they have a brake because they finished the tarmac. The soldiers seem friendlier hear. One of them even told the boys that they are doing well in the war. Another soldier is Wasser who gives them water. During their brake Wasser takes the work boys to a stream. This makes Roberto panic because Enzo is circumcised which only Jews are, but Enzo doesn't worry. Instead, he just undresses and covers himself before he gets covered by the water.

After swimming for a little bit they are called out of the water, but Enzo doesn't come out. This causes a lot of trouble, so Roberto goes after him. Enzo comes out of the water and doesn't get seen by Wasser, but he does get seen by another boy. This is the start of pay back and from now on Enzo must give some of his food to the boy. This isn't just a problem for Enzo, but for Roberto because Roberto must give some of his food to Enzo.

One night a plane landed on the tarmac which woke Roberto up which woke Enzo up. Enzo always told Roberto a story to put him to sleep. It was either a bible story or a made up story with a happy ending. So, Enzo started telling Roberto a story. Roberto knew how tired Enzo was so he pretended to sleep. In the morning they woke up and went to breakfast. They were both very hungry, but they still had to share their food. Then they made a pen for the Polish Jews. Roberto saw them and thought they are nothing to him, but the next day he gave 2 girls some of his breakfast. At dinner he also gave them food and Enzo also gave his food too. Since they didn't have a lot of food they took raw eggs from the chicken coop and ate them. This made the boys feel great and happy that they could help others.