Grades 5-8 Book Review
Refugee weaves together the stories of three young people—Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud—who flee their homes at different points in history.
- Josef is a Jewish boy escaping Nazi Germany in 1939.
- Isabel is a Cuban girl leaving Havana during the 1994 economic crisis.
- Mahmoud is a Syrian boy seeking safety from the war in 2015.
Though separated by time and place, their stories share common threads of displacement, courage, loss, and hope. Their journeys highlight the universal human struggle for safety and dignity.
Main Ideas
Themes:
- Courage and resilience in the face of danger
- Injustice and human rights
- Family, loss, and hope
- Empath across time and cultures
- The global refugee crisis and shared humanity
Writing Style: The author uses a fast-paced, cinematic storytelling style with short chapters that alternate between three different perspectives, creating a sense of urgency and momentum. Each storyline follows a clear chronological sequence, but the narratives run in parallel and eventually intersect in powerful ways. The language is straightforward and accessible to upper elementary and middle school readers, yet the themes are emotionally intense and thought-provoking. Throughout the book, repetition and cliffhangers heighten suspense and keep readers engaged as the characters’ journeys unfold.
Educational Value:
- Builds historical knowledge about three distinct refugee crises (Nazi Germany, Cuban exodus, Syrian civil war)
- Encourages students to draw connections between historical and modern global events
- Offers opportunities to analyze structure, point of view, and theme
- Supports empathy-building and perspective-taking
- Excellent for cross-curricular connections with social studies, human rights, and civics instruction
Text Complexity Map
Title: Refugee Author: Alan Gratz
Publisher: Scholastic Press Publication Date: 2017 Pages: 352
Genre: Historical Fiction / Realistic Fiction
| Description | Recommended Grade Levels |
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High (Upper Elementary to Middle School) Although the language is accessible, the text’s multiple perspectives, heavy themes, and historical knowledge demands make it a complex and powerful text for close reading and thematic study. Why misleading? The Lexile level may underestimate the difficulty because it doesn’t account for the emotional complexity, historical context, or structure with three interwoven narratives. |
Grades 5-8 |
Quantitative Measures of the Text:
Range: 770L-980L
Associated Band Level:
The text is associated with the 4-5 band. Although the sentence structure is straightforward, the content is emotionally intense and conceptually demanding. The multiple timelines require inferential thinking and synthesis across narratives.
Qualitative Measures of the Text |
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Levels of Meaning/Purpose: Very Complex - multiple timelines and themes of injustics, loss, and hope. |
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Structure: Moderately to Very Complex Three narrative threads, non-overlapping time periods, converging |
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Language Clarity and Conventionality: Moderately Complex Clear but includes figurative language, foreign words, and historical facts. |
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Knowledge Demands: Very Complex Requires understanding of Nazi Germany, Cuban migration, and Syrian civil war. |
Reader and Task Considerations: |
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Readers:
Background Knowledge:
Complexity of Tasks:
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Mentor Text Teaching Points (Chapters 1-3)
Reading Skills:
- Analyzing multiple perspectives and structure.
- Determining theme and supporting with evidence.
- Comparing experiences across characters and historical contexts.
Writing Skills:
- Writing in multiple perspectives
- Using foreshadowing
- Adding imagery and sensory details
- Using parallel structure
- Adding figurative language: Similes, metaphors, and personification
Language, Grammar & Conventions:
- Identifying cohesive ties (transitions across perspectives)
- Figurative language
- Dialogue
- Tone analysis
Vocabulary
- Example Tier 2: flee, voyage, refugee, peril, injustice, resilience
- Example Tier 3: concentration camp, Castro, Aleppo, St. Louis (ship), asylum
Mentor Sentence:
“Mahmoud Bishara was invisible, and that was exactly how he wanted it. Being invisible was how he survived.” “It was easier to stay invisible that way.” (pg. 12-13 - Mahmoud-Aleppo, Syria - 2015)
Central Theme in a Single Line
- “Being invisible” is both literal (staying unnoticed in a war zone) and symbolic (how refugees can disappear from the world’s attention).
- These lines set up one of Mahmoud’s defining internal conflicts and a recurring motif that threads through his entire story.
Repetition with Purpose
- The repeated phrase “invisible” reinforces Mahmoud’s survival strategy and the emotional weight behind it.
- This technique helps students see how intentional repetition can emphasize a key idea or theme without being redundant.
Cohesive Tie Across the Text
- The word “invisible” functions as a cohesive thread that connects multiple points in Mahmoud’s arc.
- This strategy helps students notice how authors echo key language to build meaning over time.
“All that spring Isabel had waded without joy in the ocean, waiting for the storm to come that would tear her family apart.” (pg. 154 - Isabel Somewhere on the Straits of Florida - 1994 2 Days from Home)
Figurative Language and Foreshadowing
- The “storm” in this sentence works on two levels:
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- Literal — a hurricane threatening Cuba.
- Figurative — the political and personal upheaval that will break Isabel’s family apart.
This dual meaning helps students see how a single image can foreshadow a coming conflict.
Mood and Tone
- Phrases like “waded without joy” and “tear her family apart” immediately create a somber, tense mood.
- The tone suggests that Isabel senses danger before it happens, which builds emotional stakes early in the story.
Sentence Structure and Rhythm
- The sentence is long and flowing, mirroring the rolling movement of the ocean.
- The introductory phrase (“All that spring Isabel had waded…”) sets time and place, showing students how to ground a sentence in context before delivering emotional impact.
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