Bibliographic Info:
Author- Alan Gratz
Publisher-Scholastic Press
Copyright Date:2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-88083-1
Summary: Three different kids, three different time periods, and three different backgrounds. One thing all three of these characters have in common is that they are on a mission to escape their current situations. Josef is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany, whose life changes forever the moment he boards a ship in search of a better life with his family. Isabel, a Cuban teen in 1994, steps out on a leap of faith with her family and neighbors to try to escape Cuba and make the long difficult journey by water to America. Mahmoud, a Syrian boy in 2015, tries to escape the violence and terror going on in Syria with his family as they set out on the long journey to go to Europe. As each character begins their journey they are faced with unexpected trials and tribulations that would discourage anyone; however, giving up isn’t an option.
Critical Evaluation: This story is written in such a way that it is easy to read. Modern day language that is appropriate for each of the various time periods were used throughout the stories. This style of writing can be described as action packed; similar to the thriller genre; many of the chapters end with unique cliff hangers, leaving you eagerly wanting to find out what happens next. Even though it may seem like the three stories are separate, there are a lot of connections between the characters, who are very well developed. Sometimes I wish the historical details that were provided were expanded upon such as modern issues relating to modern day refugees, and a little more on Josef and his mother after the decision was made for Ruthie to go free. This is a great work of realistic fiction, and there were some parts that made me want to cry, like when Isabel’s grandfather sacrificed his own freedom for the safety and well-being of his family. An ongoing theme in the book appears to be that though these are children they have to take charge of their situations in order to maintain their survival as well as their families’. To be so young, all of them seem to be wise beyond their years as they step up as leaders within their families.
Reader’s Annotation: Three kids, three stories, three time periods, all in search of the one thing their homelands can’t provide: safety and security. Will they escape their oppressions or suffer their inevitable fates?
Many of Alan Gratz’s books are centered around the topic of history. In the Author Interview with Alan Gratz, Gratz discusses how he likes to, in his books, take things that really happened and drop a fictional character in the story, into real things that happened so that he can have a protagonist that has a real beginning, middle, and end to their stories and at the same time have the real events of history playing out. He also said that he looks for untold stories in history, which I can now after reading Refugee, appreciate because it enlightened me on other experiences of Nazi Germany during the 1930s, the war in Syria, and what it was like to live in Cuba in 1994.
A large part of the reason that Gratz integrates history into his stories is because he loves not only history but research as well. He loves real stories too. Also in the interview, he discusses how he tries to put himself in the time and place of the characters as well as tries to see things from the characters’ perspectives. Especially in his historical stories. One of the things that he stresses in this interview is that he tries to make sure that his characters aren’t modern characters making modern decisions.
. Genre: Realistic Fiction
Curriculum Ties: History
Book Talk Ideas: Jews in Nazi Germany; War in Syria
Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 6-8 and 9-12
Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation: There are some topics that are covered in the book that could be considered sensitive areas such as: guns, racial taunts, discrimination, harsh realities of war, and violence.
Rationale:
Bibliographic Information:
Author- Alan Gratz
Publisher-Scholastic Press
Copyright Date:2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-88083-1
Intended Audience: The intended audience is young adults specifically the upper grades of 9-12. This particular book would be beneficial for an English or social studies class. Primarily the book will be used for individual study in which every member of the class should read the book, and then afterwards there can be a group discussion of what transpired in the book as well as observations and thoughts concerning the book. “Refugee” can be utilized to start discussions concerning the war in Syria, Nazi Germany, and Cuba during 1994.
Summary: Three different kids, three different time periods, and three different backgrounds. One thing all three of these characters have in common is that they are on a mission to escape their current situations. Josef is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany, whose life changes forever the moment he boards a ship in search of a better life with his family. Isabel, a Cuban teen in 1994, steps out on a leap of faith with her family and neighbors to try to escape Cuba and make the long difficult journey by water to America. Mahmoud, a Syrian boy in 2015, tries to escape the violence and terror going on in Syria with his family as they set out on the long journey to go to Europe. As each character begins their journey they are faced with unexpected trials and tribulations that would discourage anyone; however, giving up isn’t an option.
Relationship to Program: The relationship of the book to school objectives would be helping 9th graders develop their literal and inferential understanding skills and comprehension skills. Through reading this book they would learn SLE # R.9.9.1 Connect own background knowledge, including personal experience and perspectives shaped by age, gender, class or national origin, to determine author’s purpose. R.9.9.5. Draw inferences from a sentence or a paragraph (including conclusions, generalizations and predictions) and support them with text evidence. Concerning summary and generalization students will utilize R.9.9.8 Summarize and paraphrase structures in informational and literary texts, including relationships among concepts and details. Concerning analysis and evaluation students will utilize R. 9.9.11 Recognize and define various points of view (e.g., omniscient narrator, third person limited) and R. 9.9.13 Identify and discuss a position using concepts gained from reading (e.g. debate, discussion, position paper, etc.).
Impact: I believe that the book Refugee would have a positive impact on the attitudes and perspectives of the students. It would teach them to appreciate what they have since things could always be worse such as the scenarios in the book. Also, it would teach them that no matter what age you are, you can still be a leader. Even though the book has a lot of sad parts, it does have the underlying message of never giving up hope for a better tomorrow no matter what your current circumstances may be.
Why Included: This book was the first book required to read on the class reading list; at first when I started out reading this book, I didn’t know what to expect and just assumed it would be boring to read. I was very wrong. Alan Gratz does a great job of writing three interesting and captivating stories rooted in the untold stories that often get lost in history. I loved how Gratz provided so much historical content of what was occurring in each time period while taking the reader through each of the character’s journeys. After reading the book, I felt enlightened about the real-life struggles of Jews trying to flee Nazi Germany, Cubans leaving Cuba in 1994, and I didn’t even know about the war going on in Syria in 2015 so that was a big eye opener.
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