Refugee
Ratings32
Average rating4.4
This is another book that hooked me as I was skimming it to write a booktalk for it. The shifting narration is really compelling, and I really appreciate the way so explicitly Gratz connects Cuban and Syrian refugees to Jewish refugees in WWII–refugees who most people today feel extremely sympathetic to in a way that a) a lot of Americans in the 1930s didn't b) a lot of Americans today don't feel toward other refugees.
It's a book that's well-meaning and compelling–at times some of the individual events seem a bit contrived but the overall effect is good, and the way the stories intersect with each other is very surprising and moving. Recommended to young readers who love WWII stories and survival stories.
I read this for my son's 5th grade book club. I didn't expect much from a YA novel about refugees, but it was a gorgeous book about courage and love in the face of cruelty and fear. It was beautifully written and the characters were lovingly crafted. Please give this book to kids in your life, especially kids who live a comfortable life with few worries. We need our future leaders to have more empathy than our current ones.
What a great book! It was gripping and emotional from the start. Anyone who wants insight on what it is like to have to flee from a war-torn country will enjoy this story which focuses on three refugee families in varying time periods. I love the way the book highlights our connections with each other regardless of race, country of origin or religion. Highly recommend.
Absolutely excellent. All 3 tales are so well done and told with such poignancy and urgency, enough that students will leave feeling an understanding of refugee experiences. Planning to order a few for the library and have talked to a few teachers about using this for book groups.
Powerful and poignant! Alan Gratz shares the humanity, and inhumanity of our history by immersing us in stories across time and place: Josef (1930s Germany), Isabel (1994 Cuba), and Mahmoud (2015 Syria). Listening to Refugee I became so invested in knowing the outcome of these turbulent family stories that I would switch back and forth between the audio version and the e-book version. I predict that this book will be read in classrooms across the country, and as One Book reads in public libraries and towns. Kudos to Gratz for this compassionate and timely book!
A thank you to Edelweiss+ for an eARC of the book.
Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are all fictional characters, but their tales are based on true stories and they will be in my heart and mind forever. Hands down this is my favorite read for 2017 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️