Great Middle Grade Reads discussion

Share your thoughts about our book of the month.

A great book for Middle School students to help understand and gain more empathy for refugees. In the first half of the book, plot and theme seem to be more important to Gratz but the characters develop in the second half and you care very much for their plight.

The author did great research and the stories ring true and tell stories that might not have actually happened in reality, but certainly could have. Each of the three stories are heartbreaking and exhilarating in turns and truly made me mad at the the world for letting politics and stupidity make innocents suffer for no fault of their own. (view spoiler)[I absolutely loved that all three stories were connected in the end. The fact that Ruthie was helping out Mahmoud hit me right in the feels. And Mariano's guilt over "manana" still haunted him so many years later. I guess Isabel's story had the happiest ending, but I'm hoping that Mahmoud finds Hana. :( (hide spoiler)]

These three refugees had to deal with situations that most people reading the book will never have to. They each had to make very grown up decisions and couldn't rely on parents anymore. One of them was officially a man due to his religion, but none of them expected to have to be this grown up this quickly.

But maybe this is what becoming a man is, Josef thought. Maybe becoming a man means not relying on your father anymore.

Mahmoud realized first that the rest of the world would continue to ignore their plight if they continued to behave. He ignores his instincts to hid and starts behaving badly. :) After he leads the refugees on their hike, the media support of the walk caused an outpouring of support.

When they stayed where they were supposed to be-- in the ruins of Aleppo or behind the fences of a refugee camp-- people could forget about them. But when refugees did something they didn't want them to do-- when they tried to cross the border into their country, or slept on the front stoops of their shops, or jumped in front of their cars, or prayed on the decks of their ferries-- that's when people couldn't ignore them any longer.

I think this one should be required reading to help teach empathy for other cultures and in history class to show how the same things keep happening over and over.

Once I started, I could not wait to finish it. Because this is a painful read; painful to read about what they are all going through. I could not wait to see them get to the end of their horrendous journeys.

I was relieved when I came to the end. The author tied it up together in a tidy way. I enjoyed the ending notes on the historical facts.

If there was one wish, it would be that each character was given more ‘airtime’ before we flicked to the next character. It was unsatisfying to be just getting down to something, and the characters were flipped to the next.

I’m also not sure I agree about the rating being middle-grade. The story was so traumatic, and the dark book cover suggests it’s YA.

I've placed my hold at the library... looks like about 3 weeks to wait, thanks to me forgetting to check which book won (what, it's July already?).

Gotta chuckle out of this, Rebecca! Don't time fly, though?

Leone wrote: "Gotta chuckle out of this, Rebecca! Don't time fly, though?"

Time has completely escaped my grip :D

This is on my list of favorite books. I think every 9th grader should be encouraged to read this book. Well crafted, beautifully written. Refugees having cell phones for survival was one of the many eye-opening points that stood out for me.

I’m glad you said 9th grader. That’s for 15 year olds, I believe? So it’s more YA to you too?

I do think it would be better has a YA choice. Of course if it is your child some 7th and 8th graders may be ok with the content.

I finally got a chance to start Refugee last week and I just finished it today, because I had gotten caught up reading other books. The saying is true, Too many books, Too little time. I agreed with the group that this definitely should be required reading in schools. More kids need to know about these things, that they are real, and they are happening today. My only real issue with the book was that I couldn't establish a real connection with the characters, so that at times it felt more like I was seeing the events happening through a screen instead of being right there with them. Besides that though, I think that it is a must read book and I definitely recommend it.

Finally read this one! I'm only 2 months behind (my excuse is that I had a long wait for the library copy). I do agree with others that this might be more YA than J, though ironically the characters who have to live through the horrific events are kids. But... Definitely at least 12, I think, though those middle-school kids (12-14) might suffer more from the trauma than younger ones. I remember being very depressed by the books we read in 7th and 8th grade, like The Old Man and the Sea and, especially, The Pearl