Booktalks Quick and Simple

	Gratz, Alan. REFUGEE New York : Scholastic, 2017 IL 3-6, RL 6.1 ISBN 0545880831 (3 booktalks)
Click on the book to read Amazon reviews	Booktalk #1 Refugee. Someone who flees to a foreign country to escape danger or persecution. 1938 -- Josef and his family live during a time in Germany when it is not safe to be Jewish. The Nazis are in power and Josef's father is arrested and brought to a concentration camp. He is free now but not the same. They now have 2 weeks to leave Germany or all of them will be sent to a concentration camp. They book passage on a ship that will bring them to Cuba where they can be free. 1994 -- Isabelle and her family are living in Cuba but now there are riots and unrest in the country. Her father is caught rioting and beaten. Now he knows he must leave the country if he is to live. The family boards a small boat for the 90 mile voyage to Florida where they can be free. 2015 -- Mahmoud lives in Aleppo in Syria. When his home is bombed and there is no hope of living in peace, his family is forced to leave. They will drive as far as they can and then take a boat to Greece. They are heading to Germany where they can be free. Follow the three as they make the harrowing journey in hopes of finding a place where they can be free. Booktalk #2 Josef’s family is fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel’s family is trying to leave the riots and unrest of Cuba in 1994, and Mahmoud’s family is escaping the violence of modern-day Syria. Gratz alternates these three narratives, keeping the chapters in Refugee short and ending each on a cliffhanger, which makes them easy to follow. The fast-paced, suspenseful stories feature characters who feel like real, relatable kids thrown into harrowing journeys filled with setbacks and hurdles. Refugee provides a vivid window onto the many struggles people face when fleeing their native countries for a better life elsewhere. (Vermont DCF Award nominee, 2018-2019) Booktalk #3 Survive. Escape. Keep your family safe. These are the main priorities for Josef in Germany in 1938, Isabel in Cuba in 1994 and Mahmoud in Syria in 2015. Things are no longer safe in their home country and they have to escape. Will they find a way out of the country and what will happen when they get out? Who will welcome them? Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award 2018-2019
	SUBJECTS: Action and adventure fiction. Emigration and immigration -- Fiction. Refugees -- Fiction. Survival -- Fiction.

Gratz, Alan.
REFUGEE
New York : Scholastic, 2017
IL 3-6, RL 6.1
ISBN 0545880831

(3 booktalks)

Click on the book to read Amazon reviews

Booktalk #1

Refugee. Someone who flees to a foreign country to escape danger or persecution. 1938 -- Josef and his family live during a time in Germany when it is not safe to be Jewish. The Nazis are in power and Josef's father is arrested and brought to a concentration camp. He is free now but not the same. They now have 2 weeks to leave Germany or all of them will be sent to a concentration camp. They book passage on a ship that will bring them to Cuba where they can be free. 1994 -- Isabelle and her family are living in Cuba but now there are riots and unrest in the country. Her father is caught rioting and beaten. Now he knows he must leave the country if he is to live. The family boards a small boat for the 90 mile voyage to Florida where they can be free. 2015 -- Mahmoud lives in Aleppo in Syria. When his home is bombed and there is no hope of living in peace, his family is forced to leave. They will drive as far as they can and then take a boat to Greece. They are heading to Germany where they can be free. Follow the three as they make the harrowing journey in hopes of finding a place where they can be free.

Booktalk #2

Josef’s family is fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel’s family is trying to leave the riots and unrest of Cuba in 1994, and Mahmoud’s family is escaping the violence of modern-day Syria. Gratz alternates these three narratives, keeping the chapters in Refugee short and ending each on a cliffhanger, which makes them easy to follow. The fast-paced, suspenseful stories feature characters who feel like real, relatable kids thrown into harrowing journeys filled with setbacks and hurdles. Refugee provides a vivid window onto the many struggles people face when fleeing their native countries for a better life elsewhere. (Vermont DCF Award nominee, 2018-2019)

Booktalk #3

Survive. Escape. Keep your family safe. These are the main priorities for Josef in Germany in 1938, Isabel in Cuba in 1994 and Mahmoud in Syria in 2015. Things are no longer safe in their home country and they have to escape. Will they find a way out of the country and what will happen when they get out? Who will welcome them? Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award 2018-2019

SUBJECTS:     Action and adventure fiction.
                        Emigration and immigration -- Fiction.
                        Refugees -- Fiction.
                        Survival -- Fiction.