Summary
Refugee is a book about 3 kids(Josef, Isabel, Mahmoud) trying to escape war and slavery in their countries(Germany, Cuba, Syria).Mahmoud and Isabel escape but Josef get’s captured. He was given the choice to escape and let his sister, Ruthie and his mother go to concentration camps or for him to go to concentration camps with his mother and let Ruthie go. He chose to go out of his kindness with his mother. Later Ruthie was found and adopted by an old woman. Isabel found refuge in Miami and spent her life there. Mahmoud found refuge in Europe and met Ruthie later as an older person. They talked to each other and told each other how some of their family members died to find refuge. They decided to find Mahmoud’s sister Hana. Mahmoud’s mother gave Hana to a stranger when trying to escape attack when finding refuge. Now they are going to try to find her.
By Alan Gratz
They died so I could live. Do you understand? They died so all these people could live. All the grandchildren and nieces they never got to meet. But you’ll get to meet them,” she told Mahmoud. “You’re still alive, and so is your little sister, somewhere. I know it. You saved her. And together we’ll find her, yes? I promise. We’ll find her and bring her home.”
Mahmoud started to cry, and he turned away and tried to blink back his tears. The old Jewish woman put her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug.
“Everything’s going to be all right now,” she whispered . “We’ll help you.”
“Ruthie, komm hier,” Frau Rosenberg’s husband called to her. Mahmoud didn’t need the translator to tell him that Herr Rosenberg wanted them to join him in the living room.
Mahmoud dragged a sleeve across his wet eyes, and Frau Rosenberg tried to hang the picture back on the wall. Her old hands were too shaky, though, and Mahmoud took it from her and hung it back on its nail for her. His gaze lingered on the picture. He was filled with sadness for the boy his age. The boy who died so Ruthie could live. But Mahmoud was also filled with gratitude. Josef had died so Ruthie could live, and one day welcome Mahmoud and his family into her house. The old woman gave Mahmoud’s arm a squeeze, and she led him into the living room. Mom and Dad were there, and Waleed and Herr Rosenberg, and the space was bright and alive and filled with books and pictures of family and the smell of good food. It felt like a home.
A new ending to Refugee
By Rishi
As Mahmoud boarded the ship with his father and Ruthie he noticed a crowd of refugees departing a different ship. “Hopefully those families had gotten here safe and sound,” Mahmoud said to Ruthie. “Don’t worry they are now safe from danger and will not be harmed,” Ruthie replied. As they kept walking into the ship captain James started speaking “We’ll be arriving at Greece, Athens in a few hours.” The ship swayed as it started to leave the dock. “Sorry just some motion control. everything will fine,” James said. But he started coughing abruptly. Mahmoud’s dad shaken said, “The captain seems sick are you sure we’re on a safe boat.” “You’ll be fine,” said Ruthie.
Only 3 hours through the Journey and the boat had stopped completely in the middle of the Aegean Sea.
“What’s happening?,” Mahmoud’s Dad shouted. “Relax. There must be a
simple explanation for this. Let’s just find Ruthie.” “Exactly my point. She’s gone!”Mahmoud’s dad cried. He started to look really scared and confused. Mahmoud slapped him and said “get a grip on yourself. We can walk around the ship and see if she just went for a walk in the night or something. It could explain why the ship stopped moving.” They started to walk in the darkness of the ship looking to and fro and jumped at sounds of creaking in the wood floor. “Ew I stepped on something squishy,” said Mahmoud as he looked down. It was a wet mess of spilled corn soup. Disgusted he wiped his shoe harshly on the dry wood. Loud noises started to come from down the hall. “Somebody’s coming hide!” Mahmoud hid behind a big barrel and his dad hid inside it. Mahmoud was able to make out the faintest sound of a girl and some other people. Ruthie! Mahmoud started to follow them leaving his father behind who didn’t know that he had left him. He continued following the group of people to the captain’s deck. What he saw inside almost made him throw up. Captain James was dead.
The whole group (including Ruthie) laid him down on the floor. Finally Mahmoud came out of hiding and shouted, “What are you doing here and why is the captain dead!” Ruthie stopped moving and turned around. “I was trying to figure out why the boat had stopped. So I went to captain’s deck and the captain was dead so I got some other people to help me. Everyone was saying that before the captain boarded the ship he was having hyperthermia but still wanted to drive the boat. And some person actually let him,” Ruthie said in exclamation. “But who will drive us all the way to Athens now?” said a tall woman. “I can still remember the last time that I rode a boat. My brother taught me how to drive it. I can get us there.” The journey continued and Mahmoud his Dad and Ruthie make to Athens hoping to find Mahmoud’s lost sister Hana. He had given her to a stranger at sea and wished that she might have found safety in Athens.
When they reached their destination they started to look around putting up signs saying that Hana was lost and given to a woman that was traveling to Athens. Mahmoud’s dad pointed to a hotel and said,“Hey let’s look in there.” The trio walked inside and the first thing for everyone to see was a giant staircase. A man came down the staircase and said “Hello. Welcome. Are you looking for a room to stay in?” “No we were looking to see if you had seen a little baby girl with a woman. Her name is Hana.” The man’s expression went from happy to completely crazy. “Do you mean the Hana. The one that survived a furious storm at sea. That girl is in another hotel called hotel Dring but she’s famous. Her caretaker is treating her very well if you wanted to know. Why did you ask?” “Because she’s my sister. I gave her to that caretaker months ago in that storm,” Mahmoud answered. The man said back, “You can still reach her but she’s 5 miles away and is moving to a different city tomorrow morning.” “We got to go,” said Mahmoud. All of them started running to the hotel. The catch was they had no car or vehicle to ride there.The Sun was almost up. “We can still make it,” Ruthie wheezed. They were all running as fast as they possibly could. Still Mahmoud stopped “there can be another way do this,” Mahmoud said “It can’t be this hard.” A car pulled up. It was the man from the hotel. He said “I can help you get to your sister. Get in” All of them climbed in. It took awhile but they all made it to the hotel earlier than expected. From the window in eyes sight the woman was holding Hana in her hands just about to get in a bus. But Mahmoud ran forward and grabbed Hana out of the woman’s hands. The lady immediately recognized Mahmoud and said “You’re that boy who gave me this baby at sea. My name is Sheila” “ My name is Mahmoud. I came here because I knew that there was the smallest chance Hana could still be alive,” said Mahmoud. Sheila said “When you gave her to me I rushed to get back home and see if she was ok. Her nose was blocked up with water, but I was able to get the medic to help her.” Thank you. We can now return home with joy. And so they did. Sheila went back to her own personal hobbies and Everyone else came home. Ruthie, Mahmoud and his family started to raise Hana and Mahmoud would go to school everyday like he used to. Ruthie would come and visit him on holidays. All was well.