Refugee

The award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling novel from Alan Gratz tells the timely--and timeless--story of three different kids seeking refuge.

A New York Times bestseller!

JOSEF is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world...

ISABEL is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety in America...

MAHMOUD is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe...

All three kids go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge. All will face unimaginable dangers -- from drownings to bombings to betrayals. But there is always the hope of tomorrow. And although Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are separated by continents and decades, shocking connections will tie their stories together in the end.

As powerful and poignant as it is action-packed and page-turning, this highly acclaimed novel was on the New York Times bestseller list for more than four years and continues to change readers' lives with its meaningful takes on survival, courage, and the quest for home.

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Published Jul 25, 2017

352 pages

Average rating: 8.47

43 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

novelishdelish
Dec 11, 2024
10/10 stars
This was a hard read for me with what is currently going on in this world today. These three children faced hardships that no child should ever have to face. The way Gratz told these children's stories had me holding my breath at times hoping and praying they made it past their next trial. My heart soared with every triumph and broke with every new trial they had to face. Gratz truly takes you through each of these trials and triumphs throughout the whole book and just when you think you've figured it all put he throws you for another loop.
DaileyBean
Aug 15, 2024
8/10 stars
I also finished reading with 5th grade in June. They loved it, most of them!
Reesee
Aug 04, 2024
10/10 stars
One of the top 5 books I’ve ever read
Kate in NJ
May 27, 2022
7/10 stars
A well written YA novel, Refugee interweaves the non-synchronous stories of three refugee families. In each fact-based story, an action-driven child suffers and survives, along with his or her family, the fate of a people forced to flee their country to save their lives. Gantz leaves the reader white-knuckled at the end of each section, creating a page-turner written for adolescents, but likely to hold the interest and heart of readers of all ages. In his afterword, the reader hears from a different Gantz: the historian, the researcher, and the writer, full of gratitude, much like his young protagonists, for the help and encouragement he received.

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