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Refugee by Alan Gratz
Follows the stories of three refugee children from different eras. Josef is a young Jewish boy escaping from the threat of concentration camps in the 1938; Isabel escapes the violence in Castro's Cuba in 1994; and Mahmoud, Syrian boy sneaking into Europe in 2015. Follows each of their journeys and the harrowing, dangerous obstacles that stood in their way as they searched for a better life.
Review from School Library Journal:
Gratz presents three interrelated stories about surviving. The tales center on children and their families who are driven from their homes by war, violence, and unrest. Josef must leave Nazi-controlled Germany with his mother, his sister, and his mentally broken father (just returned to them from Auschwitz). He sails across the Atlantic Ocean on the ill-fated St. Louis only to be turned away from Cuba and returned to Europe. Isabel and her family live in Cuba and escape on a makeshift raft during the exodus in the 1990s. They flee the repression and poverty of Fidel Castro's rule. Mahmoud, a Syrian boy, and his family seek refuge from the ongoing war and violence in their home city of Aleppo. They board a dinghy in order to cross the Aegean sea from Turkey to Greece. All the entries share elements of hardship, fear, and trauma and stress the power of love, family, and incredible sacrifice. Gratz, who is known for well-written and well-researched historical fiction, doesn't disappoint. His latest is timely and moving.
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