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159 Refugee Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

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• Essay Review on the Refugee by Alan Gratz Despite the different reasons that prompted Isabel and Josef to leave their native country, and the fate of their loved ones that affected the emotional state of the children, they are similar in that the […]
• Refugees as a Tactic in War: History, Types, and Number A refugee is defined as a person who due to a justifiable reason of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a certain social or a political group is out of the […]
• Life in the Kenya Refugee Camp The onset of the politically instigated violence in my country meant that circumstances had taken a turn for the worst. Life in the refugee camp is so challenging with so little to smile about as […]
• The Refugee Crisis and How to Overcome It While the current situation of Syrian and Iraqi refugees is unprecedented, the problem of refugees, in general, is well-known, and it was studied since the middle of XX century.
• ”Refugees From Amerika: A Gay Manifesto” Context Review In the 1950s, the West Coast became one of the pulsing centers of the counterculture, heralded in San Francisco by exponents of the Beat generation, including Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsberg, the latter openly gay.
• Attitudes Toward Newly Arrived Refugees The crisis demonstrates the evolution of interactions between refugees and host nations and the impact of close geographical proximity on attitudes toward immigrants. The war broke out on the 24th of February 2022, to the […]
• Attitudes Toward Newly Arrived Refugees: Theories and Models Authors distinguish the existence of several approaches to understanding the concept of refugees and the application of world systems theory, integration of theory, and theories of assimilation and citizenship.
• Addressing the Healthcare Language Barrier of Afghan Refugees in California The foundation of the problem lies in the lack of adequate infrastructure in the places where medical services are provided to interpret information for immigrants and refugees.
• The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada The IRB is comprised of the Immigration Appeal Division, the Immigration Division, and the Refugee Protection Division. The governor-in-council appoints the Chairperson of the IRB who is supported by the vice-chairperson and deputy chairperson.
• Access of Refugees to Healthcare in Nevada The issues were identified only by the resettlement workers, yet the struggle to cope with existing problems and the resettlement process can lead to serious health implications.
• Refugees, Migrants and Asylum-Seekers in Nevada The movement of refugees from one asylum country to another that has agreed to accept them and eventually offer them permanent status is known as resettlement.
• Researching the Concept of Refugee Status It is to make sure that a person is fit to settle as a refugee in a country to legitimize them.
• Refugee Mental Health & Transcultural Psychiatry Because of this, many refugees have resorted to seeking refugee camp mental health services to cope with their situation in a new country and feel less stress.
• Syrian Refugees in Ottawa: Health Promotion Needs This report will highlight the difficulties of neglected facets such as mental health and the crucial role of implementing global proficiency in health professionals and organizations that work with refugees.
• African Refugees’ Experience of Mediterranean Passage One of the central messages of this chapter, in my opinion, is rendered through the quote of the passage survivor: “We do not know who will pick us up.
• Psychiatry: PTSD Following Refugee Trauma The psychiatrists finally recognized PTSD in the first version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders after the mass occurrence of similar symptoms in Vietnam veterans.
• America’s Refugee Act’s Bottlenecks The Act replaced the earlier versions of laws touching on the issue of refugees, mainly the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act.
• Creating Organization to Help Refugee Children Specifically, the legal standards for refugee admission and resettlement will have to be taken into account since they will define the vulnerable population’s accessibility to the services provided by the organization, as well as the […]
• Social Work & Movements of Refugees and Migrants The profession of social workers acts as an advocate for the human rights of refugees and migrants in education and practice.
• Societal Views on Refugees and Children’s Mental Wellbeing Just like the definition given by UNHCR, the OAU also believes that an individual becomes a refugee when they cross the border of their country of origin to a foreign country.
• How Refugees Affect the Host Country By contrast, a positive effect of refugees, which usually remains unconsidered, is that they contribute to the aggregate demand of the host country.
• “Race, Refugees, and International Law” by Achiume In the article “Race, Refugees, and International Law,” the author describes the definition of the term “race” as the social systems of meaning that attach to elements of morphology and ancestry.
• Democratic Republic of Congo’s Refugee Crisis The refugee crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo is one example of how refugees suffer because of poor healthcare access and the inability to provide for themselves.
• “Refugee Trauma” Article Critique The main hypothesis of the work could be assumed to be in two things: first, the fact refugees experience trauma that needs specific and specialized approaches to be properly addressed, and second that the Multiphase […]
• Influx of Syrian Refugees in North Jordan To mitigate the tension between the Syrian refugees and the surrounding communities in Jordan, the primary aim of this proposed research study is to investigate tension factors.
• Unintentional Injuries Among Refugee and Immigrant Children The research question is not formulated evidently, but the readers can understand that the authors pose the question about the differences in injury rates as related to the country and status of immigrants and refugee […]
• Maternity Care for Asylum Seekers and Refugees In the process of the study, Judith Nabb focuses on a set of particular issues representing interest to her personally and being relevant in the course of general medical care studies, such as the level […]
• Cultural Perspectives on Health of Sudanese Women Refugees in Australia This study aims of understanding FGM among the Sudanese refugee women in Australia and its impact on the health of the women.
• Immigration and Refugee Law in New Zealand Consequently, the refugee policy comes about due to the flow of obligations courtesy of the 1960 UNHCR Convention, that is to say, the provision of refugees’ protection.
• Refugees Issues: Rights and Challenges The specified rights allow refugees to ensure that the factors which have compelled them to escape their native country will not affect them in the environment of the UN.
• Anxiety Among Refugees and the Crucial Need for Professional Interpreters This review appraises three studies examining the issue of anxiety among refugees and the role of professional interpreters in reducing anxiety.
• The Politics of Refugee Protection The paper will first review the background of the literature to explain the issues of migration and provide insight into the functions, roles, and organs of the Council of Europe.
• Egypt and Sudan Refugees and Asylum Seekers Face Brutal Treatment and Human Trafficking In this report by Amnesty International, the issue of the security of refugees and asylum seekers in Shagarab refugee camps, which are located in the eastern parts of Sudan, is raised.
• Rights, Needs, or Assistance? The Role of the UNHCR in Refugee Protection in the Middle East Ultimately, the author seeks to understand the concept of protection as defined by the UNHCR and how such definition plays out in the context of Syrian and Iraqis refugees in the Middle East.
• How to Stop Being Afraid and Welcome Refugees The current strategy of the White House suggests resettling 10,000 Syrians next year in order to help the Old World to overcome the worst refugee crisis since the times of the Second World War.
• African Refugee Life Challenges According to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who “”owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a […]
• Global Warming and Environmental Refugees Moreover, since environmental refugees have to leave their homelands, the developed countries are responsible for their relocation; thus, have to provide refugees with all the necessary financial and emotional support to ease their adaptation process […]
• Government-Funded Settlement Programs for African Refugees This will come in handy when assessing and evaluating the ability of the service providers, especially the government, to satisfy the needs of the refugees.
• Refugees and Migration: Issue Analysis Culmination of the conflicts and the crises were witnessed in Rwanda in April to mid July 1994, when genocide occurred following the assassination of the then Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana.
• Refugee Crisis: Term Definition In addition to the above mentioned, the Iraqi government had reduced the garrisons in the Kurdistan regions were reduced or abandoned.
• UN, WTO and the Solving the Palestinian Refugee Subject The end of the war was also marked by the creation of a massive number of refugees 10,000 of them Jewish and 711,000 of them Palestinian.
• Visa System and Refugee Law in Australia According to Suhad et al, the basic requirements that individuals need to meet for them to be accorded the protection visa are processed by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
• Refugee Women and Their Human Rights According to the researches have been made by UNHCR, 1998, found that 80% of the refugees immigrating to the United States and other countries of second asylum are women or children.
• Examining Street-Based Child Labor Amongst Syrian Refugees in Lebanon The research aims at answering the following question, “What are the legal and social improvements that should be made to improve the situation of Syrian refugee children working on the streets of Lebanon via the […]
• Stereotypes About Immigrants and Refugees The majority of these stereotypes develop due to the lack of education and understanding of immigration and people’s relocation. For instance, the history of the US heavily focuses on the achievements of white people, while […]
• South Sudan Refugees: Women Empowerment The subject of this work is the study of women’s empowerment in the country in question in order to ensure the greater rights and freedoms of this group.
• Refugees in Iowa Has Changed in 40 Years Iowa played a unique role in the reception of Vietnamese refugees in that it was the only state to actively offer asylum to these people.
• Syrian Refugees in the United States Zakaria supports this idea and mentions that foreigners search for a better life in the US because they follow the image of the American Dream that was created in the past and still attracts different […]
• Syrian Refugees in Jordan as Security Threats In a statement by the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Jeh Johnson states that foreign jihads are trained in Syria and later cross to Jordan, and then to Europe and America as refugees. The first […]
• South Sudan Refugees and Their Status Also, the situation in Southern Sudan, low productivity, ongoing conflicts, and the lack of required aid might lead to a humanitarian crisis.[2] Many refugees are forced to live under the open sky, they do not […]
• Canadian Refugees and the Refugee Crisis While some countries, especially in the Middle East and Africa, are the source of the refugees, countries in the west, including the USA and Canada are among the popular destinations.
• Trump’s Refugee Order: Suppression or Protection There are a lot of other countries where the majority of the population are Muslims, and their citizens are allowed to come to the USA.
• Discrimination Against Refugees in a New Country However, the report argues that the educational interventions are particularly important because of their ability to affect attitudes and the lack of awareness, which appear to be the major reasons for the existence of discrimination.
• Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for Women The main problem facing women asylum seekers within Canada is the failure of decision makers to incorporate gender related claims of women into the interpretation of the existing enumerated grounds and their failure to recognize […]
• Refugees Self-Sufficiency Program in Miami S military invasion of Iraq and Fidel Castro’s reign in Cuba resulted in Thousands of Iraqi and Cuban refugees being resettled in the U.S.
• Challenges Experienced by Syrian Refugees Even though the right to seek asylum and find the protection in different countries is granted to Syrian refugees according to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the problem is in […]
• Gulf Cooperation Council and Syrian Refugees However, there is a great number of other facts that should not be omitted and which prove the fact that the GCC countries do not refuse to shelter refugees.
• Attitudes Towards Refugees in an Australian Sample The research paper compares the findings of an investigation that was based on Pearson correlation as well as summarizes the core outcomes of the previous studies that were aimed at different groups of refugees’ integration.
• International Relations: The Palestinian Refugees Problem The best way to solve the crisis is to analyze the problem through an International Relations framework, such as, the application of knowledge gleaned from the study of the international system.
• Syrian Refugee in Toronto However, this process is very complicated and the war in Syria could be taken as the best evidence of the complexity of the situation. The evolution of ISIS resulted in the war on the territory […]
• Syrian Refugees Crisis: Turkey, Sweden, and Iraq The debate about the status of the refugees divided the society into two groups, the protestors and the supporters of the decision to grant Syrian refugees Turkish citizenship.
• Refugees and Mental Health They live their lives on the edge because they are unsure of what is going to happen to them and their families.
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Despite the fact that UNHCR has in the recent past executed its duty in the best interest of all the refugees across the globe, the agency faces some setbacks and failures that need to be […]
• Working With Iraqi and Cuban Refugees as a Career Counselor The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of the lives of Iraqi and Cuban refugees who have arrived the United States.
• System of Protection for Asylum Seekers and Refugees Internship The system has identified the need to have respect among the refugees in a given camp and between the refugees and the staff that run the protection institutions.
• Refugees and Economic Migrants The refugee migrants are not in a position, or have no willingness, to go back to their country of origin and this is because they have the fear of being persecuted and therefore, these people […]
• Cross-Cultural Communication: Helping Refugees From Syria Good communication is based on the capability of the recipient to listen and comprehend the intention of the speaker and vice versa.
• Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon The purpose of this brief is to outline the current situation and to push for reforms in Lebanon pertaining to the ownership of property, land and housing by Palestinian refugees.
• Indonesia and Its Relationship With Refugees To accomplish this task, a brief history of the country and apartheid, the country’s relationship with asylum seekers and refugees and finally the current situation are succinctly covered.
• Essential Services for Refugees in Auburn, New South Wales To enhance accessibility of health care services, the Refugee Health Plan recognizes complex medical needs of refugees and thus incorporate elements of culture and language as some of the factors that need consideration in the […]
• Briefing Paper on Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon The paper aims to elucidate on the plight of the refugees and the gains that would be attained from application of their full rights as well as some practical solutions to the predicaments.
• Can Art Change How We Think About Refugees? The group had identified that the refugees used art to negotiate their way of becoming part and parcel of the indigenous people of the new home, despite the varying degrees of prejudice and exclusion that […]
• Media Discourse on Refugees in Australia The article is meant to reduce the conflict between the public and the government regarding the issue of asylum seekers and refugees.
• Is It Important to Distinguish Between Immigrants and Refugees? It is really important to distinguish between immigrants and refugees, as representatives of the two groups experience various acculturation processes in different ways.
• The Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) The Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization is a community organization which focuses on issues concerning proper integration of immigrants and refugees into the US society.
• Thailand ‘Interested’ in Refugee Swap Deal With Australia The genre of the text refers to journalistic genre, which means that the main purpose of the text should be to attract the readers and make them read the article until the end.
• Australia and Humanitarian Rights of Refugees In order to curtail the escalating humanitarian crisis, the Australian government came up with Humanitarian action policy of 1995. Creation of a link between development and humanitarian programme helps the government to come up with […]
• Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Australia Deviance is associated to foreigners; the feeling of substantial section of society is that refugees pose a threat to the society and to the moral order.
• The Protracted Sri Lankan Refugee Situation in India: Challenges and Possible Solutions There are a lot of people, government agencies perhaps and international organizations that speak well of the need to help refugees, but at the heart of the matter is a social problem that is difficult […]
• House of Refugee vs. Life-Saving Station: In Search for a Shelter It is quite remarkable that the difference between the two houses comes into the limelight as the correspondent, who clearly incorporates the elements of media as the author perceived it, cunning, two-faced and at the […]
• Refugees Detention in the U.S. and Australia The civil groups argue that most of the detention facilities are in the remote areas and the facilities are of poor quality.
• Refugees And Ordinary Migrants The immigrant countries should grant and approve visas to the refugees to allow them to live in them according to the laws on refugees.
• Differences and Similarities Between Refugees and Economic Immigrants Additionally, the UN recognizes the universal right of refugees to claim asylum and endeavors to communicate the same to their member countries.
• Across the Sands: African Refugees in the Eyes of the World Among the most notorious issues of the present-day political affairs, the one concerning the problem of the African refugees remains on the agenda of the modern politics and culture.
• Artists in Exile: How Refugees From Twentieth-Century War and Revolution Transformed the American Performing Arts, by Joseph Horowitz Knowledge of the type of music in that era is will help in the understanding of the book especially the German way of expressing inner motion.
• Korean Immigrants and Refugees in New York The second phase of Koreans to immigrate to the US occurred in 1950 to 1953, this was after the Korean War.
• Are Refugees, or Diasporic Migrants Are Different From or Similar to the “Ordinary” Labor/Economic Migrants? The aim of the study is to discuss how refugees are different from or similar to the “ordinary” labor or economic migrants.
• The Ramifications of Hosting Refugees in the Society in Case of Kenya In the case of Kenya, the nation I went to, a majority of these camps are located in the Arid and Semi Arid Lands.
• Mental Health Status and Syndrome Patterns Among Young Refugee Children in Germany
• The Difference Between Emigration and Refugee
• Welcoming Refugees and the Cultural Wealth of Cities: Intersections of Urban Development and Refugee Humanitarianism
• Refugee Women During the 21st Century
• Employer Attitudes Towards Refugee Immigrants
• Refugee Resettlement, Redistribution, and Growth
• The Best Practices for Addressing Refugee Adjustment
• Refugee Admissions and Public Safety: Are Refugee Settlement Areas More Prone to Crime
• Borderless Lullabies: Musicians and Authors in Defense of Refugee Children
• Regional Migration Patterns and Homeownership Disparities in the Hmong-American Refugee Community
• Jobs, Crime, and Votes: A Short-Run Evaluation of the Refugee Crisis in Germany
• Refugees and Refugee Crises: Some Historical Reflections
• The European Refugee Crisis: The Struggles of Survival
• Winners and Losers Among a Refugee-Hosting Population
• Getting the First Job – Size and Quality of Ethnic Enclaves for Refugee Labor Market Entry
• Benefits and Costs With High Refugee Population
• Mapping Complex Systems: Responses to Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in Three Refugee Camps
• Harnessing and Advancing Knowledge in Social Enterprises: Theoretical and Operational Challenges in the Refugee Settlement Experience
• Pre-school Teachers’ Stereotypes and Perceptions of Behavior Problems in Newly Arrived Refugee Children
• Racism and the European Refugee Crisis
• Local Labor Markets and Earnings of Refugee Immigrants
• Escape From Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World
• Mental Health Interventions for Refugee Youth
• Estimating Poverty for Refugee Populations: Can Cross-Survey Imputation Methods Substitute for Data Scarcity
• Administrative State Refugee Protection
• Blaming Brussels: The Impact of the Refugee Crisis on Attitudes Towards the EU and National Politics
• Assisting the Least Among Us: Social Work’s Historical Response to Unaccompanied Immigrant and Refugee Youth
• Syrian Refugee Crisis: Global Impacts and Sustainable Solutions
• Americans and the German Jewish Refugee Crisis of the 1930s
• Inclusive Education for Refugee Children With Disabilities
• Belonging: Decision Theory and Refugee
• Refugee Movement: Causes, Impacts, and Solutions
• Entrepreneurship and the Business Cycle: The “Schumpeter” Effect Versus the “Refugee” Effect
• Assessing the Direct and Spillover Effects of Shocks to Refugee Remittances
• Mental Illness and Addiction Among Immigrant, Refugee, and Asylum-Seeking
• Europe’s Refugee and Migrant Crisis: Economic and Political Ambivalences
• Refugee Camps and the Application of Florence Nightingale’s Environmental Theory
• Gratitude and Hospitality: Tamil Refugee Employment in London and the Conditional Nature of Integration
• Assigning Protection: Can Refugee Rights and State Preferences Be Reconciled
• Canada’s Refugee Strategy: How It Can Be Improved
• Does Entrance With Family Influence the Way Minors Leave a Refugee Centre?
• Are Refugee Settlement Areas More Prone to Crime?
• Who Was the First Refugee?
• What Are the Leading Causes of Refugees?
• How Did the ISIS Terror Group and Syrian Refugee Crisis Start?
• What Is the Main Problem With Refugees?
• Who Should Determine Refugee Policy?
• What Is Causing the Refugee Crisis?
• What Is the Biggest Refugee Crisis?
• Which Country Is Most Welcoming to Refugees?
• Are Refugee Flows Associated With International Trade?
• Why Is It Essential to Study Refugees?
• Which Country Has the Most Refugee?
• Does Halting Refugee Resettlement Reduce Crime?
• How Can We Help Refugees?
• What Is the Importance of Refugees?
• Which Are the Significant Problems of Refugees?
• Is the Syrian Refugee Crisis an Outcome of the Civil War?
• What Countries Do Not Allow Refugees?
• Who Is the Most Famous Refugee in the World?
• Why Are Refugee Children Shorter Than the Hosting Population?
• What Are the Types of Refugees?
• What Are Some Struggles Refugees Face?
• Why Is the Refugee Crisis Significant?
• Does Reduced Cash Benefit Worsen the Educational Outcomes of Refugee Children?
• Is the Syrian Refugee Crisis Becoming a Major Part of Internation?
• Why Do Refugee Burden Sharing Initiatives Fail?
• Is the Syrian Refugee Crisis Today’s Worst Humanitarian?
• Who Is Affected by the Refugee Crisis?
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128 Refugee Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

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Refugees are individuals who have been forced to flee their homes due to persecution, conflict, or violence. Their stories are often filled with hardship, resilience, and hope. Writing an essay on refugee topics can shed light on the experiences of these individuals and raise awareness about the issues they face. Here are 128 refugee essay topic ideas and examples to help you get started:

• The impact of war on refugee populations
• Refugee policies and their implications for human rights
• The role of international organizations in supporting refugees
• Refugee children and their access to education
• The mental health challenges faced by refugees
• Refugee resettlement programs and their effectiveness
• Gender-based violence among refugee populations
• The experiences of LGBTQ refugees
• Refugee integration and social cohesion in host countries
• The economic contributions of refugees to host communities
• The legal rights of refugees in different countries
• Refugee camps and their conditions
• The experiences of unaccompanied refugee minors
• Refugee healthcare access and disparities
• Refugee entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency
• The impact of climate change on refugee populations
• Refugee identity and belonging
• The role of media in shaping perceptions of refugees
• Refugee advocacy and activism
• The experiences of refugee women in conflict zones
• Refugee trauma and mental health treatment
• Refugee education access and quality
• The experiences of refugee families in resettlement
• Refugee child labor and exploitation
• The role of religion in refugee communities
• Refugee storytelling and narrative resilience
• Refugee art and cultural expression
• The experiences of refugee athletes in international competitions
• Refugee political participation and representation
• The impact of COVID-19 on refugee populations
• Refugee youth empowerment programs
• Refugee language barriers and communication challenges
• The experiences of refugee healthcare workers in times of crisis
• Refugee environmental activism and sustainability efforts
• Refugee access to legal representation and advocacy services
• The experiences of refugee journalists and media professionals
• Refugee access to technology and digital resources
• The impact of displacement on refugee mental health
• Refugee access to clean water and sanitation facilities
• Refugee food insecurity and nutrition challenges
• The experiences of refugee artists and creatives in exile
• Refugee access to reproductive health services
• Refugee access to higher education and vocational training
• The impact of xenophobia on refugee communities
• Refugee access to financial services and banking
• Refugee housing and shelter conditions
• Refugee access to transportation and mobility services
• The experiences of refugee older adults and elderly populations
• Refugee access to legal aid and justice systems
• Refugee access to childcare and family support services
• The impact of trauma-informed care on refugee mental health
• Refugee access to sports and recreational activities
• Refugee access to disability services and accommodations
• The experiences of refugee healthcare providers in conflict zones
• Refugee access to emergency response and disaster relief services
• Refugee access to psychosocial support and counseling
• Refugee access to gender-based violence prevention and response services
• The impact of community-based interventions on refugee mental health
• Refugee access to addiction treatment and recovery services
• Refugee access to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services
• The experiences of refugee LGBTQ individuals in resettlement
• Refugee access to sexual and reproductive health services
• Refugee access to trauma therapy and counseling services
• The impact of cultural competency on refugee mental health services
• Refugee access to peer support and mentorship programs
• Refugee access to vocational training and job placement services
• Refugee access to legal aid and immigration services
• The impact of social support networks on refugee mental health
• Refugee access to community-based mental health services
• Refugee access to emergency shelters and transitional housing
• Refugee access to nutrition and food assistance programs
• The impact of language barriers on refugee mental health services

These essay topic ideas and examples provide a starting point for exploring the complex issues surrounding refugees and their experiences. By delving into these topics, you can gain a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by refugees and the ways in which individuals and communities can support their resilience and well-being.

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In  Refugee , author Alan Gratz shares the stories of three young people looking for a place to live in peace — Josef in 1930s Nazi Germany, Isabel in 1990s Cuba, and Mahmoud in present-day Syria. Though they all come from different places and grew up in different times, they all share similar struggles as they seek out a better life for themselves and their families.

For readers of  Refugee , these stories provide an opportunity to learn about the harsh realities of war and economic crisis that motivate people to seek refuge. Through its structure and organization, the book is able to present complex themes and ideas in a way that enables students to fully grasp them. It also allows teachers like you to take advantage of a variety of thought-provoking activities and resources to help further students’ understanding of the ideas presented.

Perfect for in-class discussion — and a great option for  book reports  —  Refugee provides students with the chance to use their imaginations and make real-world connections. Overall, Alan Gratz titles like this one are an effective and beneficial way to study the genre of historical fiction .

During reading, it’s important to encourage students to reflect on the experiences of Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud through writing and discussion. The following 12 prompts will help further students’ understandings of the stories detailed in  Refugee  by focusing on important details and themes, plus storytelling elements, such as point of view and structure.

On key ideas and details

1.  Discuss the reasons that Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud’s families leave their homes. What are the situations in each of their lives that force them to flee? How are their situations similar and how are they different?

2.  What is the theme of this book as expressed through the central characters? What do you feel is the most important idea in each of these stories? Provide examples in the plot of each story to support your ideas.

3.  Discuss the personalities of each of these young people: Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud. In what ways do each of them have to take charge of their families’ plights at different points in their story? Describe the points at which each young person has to act as an adult.

4.  How do the parents in each of these families change in the course of their journeys? Compare the fathers and mothers of Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud, and discuss the ways that events in each story shape their responses to their situation.

5.  Compare the method of travel for each of these refugee families. How does Josef’s sea voyage compare to those of Isabel and Mahmoud? What is the most threatening part of each of these voyages and how do those threats create obstacles for the families as they travel? On craft and structure

6.  Josef says, “It was like they were invisible . . . people chose not to see them.” (p. 18) How does this simple statement reflect his experience on the train in Nazi Germany? Why do the people ignore them? Compare his experience to Mahmoud’s when he says, “They only see us when we do something they don’t want us to do.” (p. 214)

7.  Why do you think the author chose to tell these three stories in alternating chapters? What is the effect on the reader of moving back and forth between the stories from different periods of history?

8.  Who are the helpful people in each of these three journeys? Why do others treat the refugees with meanness and disrespect? How do these experiences affect each of the families and lead to the survival of certain family members?

9.  How does the author develop the point of view of each of the characters? What is the impact of seeing how many days each character has been away from home at the start of each section? How do the stories of these three children intersect in the end, even though they are separated by many years? On integration of knowledge and ideas

10.  Listen to the  Refugee audiobook . What is the experience of hearing the main characters speak rather than reading their words on the page? How does your perception of these stories change when you hear them narrated?

11.  Compare the stories of Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud to others you have read about refugee children. There are many stories of Holocaust victims like Josef and his family, but few that recount events that are more recent, such as the war in Syria. Compare the experience of Mahmoud’s family to one described in a newspaper, magazine, or online article of your choosing.

12.  Research the history of the three dictators in these stories — Adolf Hitler, Fidel Castro, and Bashar al-Assad. Discuss how the policies and beliefs of these leaders have affected the lives of the characters in each story. Are the lives of the people in each of these places still the same today or have their lives improved?

After reading, consider diving deeper into contemporary stories and experiences of refugees by asking students to find places in their own community that are helping refugees settle into a new life. Discuss with your students ways they could help young people seeking refuge become acclimated to a different country with different customs.  

(For more great reads for your students, check out the best historical and realistic fiction books for your classroom .)  

Shop Refugee and other Alan Gratz books below! You can find all books and activities at  The Teacher Store .

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Teaching Refugee by Alan Gratz: 12 Creative Activities

One of the reasons I am so drawn to middle school ELA is the power of fiction as a tool for helping students develop a greater sense of empathy. I believe that there’s no better text to use for teaching themes of empathy, kindness, and the human experience than Refugee by Alan Gratz.

Fiction gives the reader a chance to see through a character’s eyes. I know that personally, as a reader, I often can gain greater understanding about issues such as personal struggles, sacrifice, or even the impact of global events, like war, when I explore them through the eyes of an individual character. 

This is why I get so excited about teaching Refugee by Alan Gratz . Packed with adventure, insights into the historical and modern experiences of refugees, and opportunities to build empathy and global citizenship, this moving book is a great choice for middle school readers.

Here are some of my best tips and activities to make the most out of teaching Refugee by Alan Gratz.

Pre-Reading Activities

I like to begin teaching Refugee by Alan Gratz by helping students build on their existing awareness of the themes and historical context of the novel.

First, focus the class with a quick game of “Do You Agree?” This is a no-prep activity – simply begin with all students standing up, and ask them to remain standing if they agree with statements like these:

• Fiction and storytelling has the power to change people’s minds and hearts.
• Sometimes we need to make sacrifices today for a better tomorrow. 
• There is strength in kindness.

Next, I might have students examine and reflect on the book’s cover, explore biographical information about the author, and then get into the overall structure of the novel.

It’s important for students to understand that the novel follows the story of three young refugees living at different times: Josef is a young Jewish boy living during 1930s Nazi Germany. Isabel is a Cuban girl during the 1994 rafter crisis. Finally, Mahmoud is a Syrian boy living through the Syrian Civil War in 2015. Although they are fictional characters, their tales are based on true stories. 

Chapters 1-6

While students engage with the first six chapters of the novel, I find it helpful to continue building background information. In my opinion, web quests are an ideal way to do this! Within a structured framework (where I provide research sources and guiding questions ), I like to get students explore articles and resources related to refugees and their experiences. During this web quest, students learn more about important terms. These include what makes someone a refugee, what a refugee’s experience leaving their home is like, and how they can help.

Another way to build background information is to have students learn more about the history of Germany, Syria and Cuba—the events that transpired (and led to) these 3 individual stories. You might use an historical timeline assignment , where students learn about these events in groups or individually.

First they read nonfiction articles about the important historical moments leading up to Kristallnacht in Josef’s narrative, the Malenconazo protest in Cuba in Isabel’s narrative, and the Aleppo bombings in Mahmoud’s narrative. Then, they summarize the article into the four major events that led to these moments in history. You might even like to turn the end result into an engaging bulletin board display!

Lastly, when teaching Refugee by Alan Gratz, I like to make sure students have a graphic organizer , where they can jot down important themes or recurring interconnected ideas from the novel. Because the novel is packed with so many important—and often interconnected—motifs, this helps students keep track of them. They can later use this as a reference when writing about the novel in a thematic final essay.

Chapters 7-12

The action in Refugee really intensifies in this second section when Isabel and her family leave Cuba on a makeshift boat. As this part of the book is set in 1994 (long before your students were born!), the class may need a bit of additional information about the Cuban Raft Exodus. Here, students can scan QR codes to explore more, including articles and captioned photographs.

Once they have had the opportunity to explore these articles, students then step into the role of a journalist covering the story at the time. Thinking creatively, drawing inspiration from the novel, students must consider how Isabel (and other characters accompanying her on the journey) would have responded to reporters’ questions while boarding their raft.

Chapters 13-18

By the end of the third section of the book, middle schoolers should have an increasingly strong understanding of how the characters’ stories are connected. At this point in teaching Refugee by Alan Gratz, I like to pause and introduce a creative writing task .

To begin, ask students to imagine that one of the three main characters (Josef, Isabel, or Mahmoud) has a magic bottle that, when dropped in water, can travel through time and space. Eventually, the note inside will be delivered to another character from the novel. 

Using text evidence, students take on the perspective of any of the three characters, and write a letter to one of the other characters. The goal in writing is to share the character’s life experiences, the challenges they have faced, how they feel, and their hopes for the future. In this task, students also have the opportunity to reply – in character – to either their own letter or a classmate’s note. For the reply, the content will largely focus on the connections between the two stories.

In my experience, assessments like this are very useful for checking in with my students. I can really tell who “gets it” and who might need a little bit more support with tricky concepts like theme.

Chapters 19-27

At first glance, a poetry assignment in the middle of teaching Refugee by Alan Gratz might seem out of place. But trust me! Students always rise to the occasion and often express very creative insights through poetry.

To begin, I teach a brief lesson on blackout poetry. I explain that a blackout poem is a type of found poetry that is produced by intentionally redacting (blacking out) the words in a text, often with a black marker. The words that remain form the new blackout poem.

Once students understand the idea, it’s time to create their own blackout poetry , using Refugee as the source text. I like to do this in a six-step process:

• Choose the source text and make a copy of the page (or pages!) the student wishes to use for their blackout poem.
• Students carefully read and analyze their source material.
• Working with light pencil, begin the process of leaving words unredacted (in other words, not blacked out!).
• Students should finalize their creative choices by reading over the poem carefully, making sure that it builds on a common theme and, more practically, can be read from left to right.
• Using a black marker (I’m partial to fine-tip Sharpies), students should “square off” their final words. One final double check might be in order here – there’s no going back!
• Students can now “black out” the rest of the page. They might like to incorporate some creative designs (i.e. shapes) into this process to emphasize themes.

Tip: Blackout poems are a fantastic way to refresh your Refugee bulletin board at this mid-way point of the novel!

Chapters 28-36

As students continue reading the book, they may be compelled to learn more about the experiences refugees may have in their own community. Teaching Refugee by Alan Gratz provides so many opportunities to make text-to-world connections, including exploring local current events.

Chapters 28 to 36 focus on the enduring theme of the impact of kindness on those who have fled their homes in search of a better future. With this in mind, there is an opportunity to help students see how they have the power to have a positive impact on refugees who are new to their country or community. 

Writing a letter of welcome to a newly-arrived refugee is a real-world task students can really get into. Even better, you may be able to seek out a place to deliver these letters within your own community. 

A handout with detailed instructions for writing the letter is included in my comprehensive resource for teaching Refugee by Alan Gratz . This resource also includes a pre-writing graphic organizer and a letter template.

Chapters 37-45

As the book builds to its climax across the three inter-woven narratives, students often appreciate learning about human rights. While teaching this section of Refugee by Alan Gratz, I like to lead two activities:

Refugee Human Rights Activity: 

In this task, I like to introduce students to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. From here, I have them apply what they learn to the novel. First, students learn about the 30 universal human rights. Next, they can apply their learning as they analyze the human rights violations in Refugee . 

For this assignment, they must consider each of the three protagonists’ experiences. Working alone or in groups of three (taking on the perspective of one character each), they compose a paragraph that describes the violations each character experienced in the novel, using text evidence.

“The Perils of Indifference” by Elie Wiesel Activity:  

The Perils of Indifference is a well-known speech by Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel. This speech – which is widely available in audio, video, and print forms – is an ideal springboard to explore the ideas of indifference.

To make this task meaningful for middle schoolers, I like to provide task cards featuring quotes from the speech . Once the class has viewed the speech together, small groups of students can use the task cards to guide discussions related to the consequences of an indifferent attitude, particularly as it relates to refugees. 

If you like, this empathy-building task can be extended into a writing activity . For this task, students can reflect on a quote that resonated particularly strongly with them, and support their thoughts with evidence from either the speech or the novel.

Chapters 46-53

To conclude your novel study, your middle school readers will enjoy reviewing the plot of the novel with an engaging game! In the Refugee Plot Matching Mystery Quote Game , students sort out plot cards for each of the three narratives. When the game is completed correctly, a powerful quote related to the theme of the novel will appear!

I also love to finish teaching Refugee by Alan Gratz with meaningful final assignments. Here are three of my favourites:

“Refugees” by Brian Bilson Poetry Connection Activity: 

During this poetry response activity , students can make connections between Brian Bilston’s poem “Refugees” and Alan Gratz’s novel Refugee . Bilston’s poem , upon first read, presents a negative perspective of refugees. However, this all-too-common perspective gets flipped on its head when the reader is instructed to read the poem in reverse. Once students have had the opportunity to explore the poem, I get them to complete a response assignment , which contains guiding questions to support students as they compare the two texts. 

Refugee Final One Pager Creative Project: 

One-pagers are a creative way for students to demonstrate their understanding, interpretation, and analysis of a text on a single piece of paper. I find that visual thinkers really love this type of task!

For this final novel project, students will create three one-pagers , one for each of the plot lines in Refugee . I provide detailed instructions for what needs to be included on the one-pager, pre-writing graphic organizers for planning, and one-pager templates for each of the characters. The final presentation is up to each student!

Refugee Final Essay Topics: 

Another option is to finish off your Refugee unit plan by having students write a final essay. Ready-to-use topics are a low-prep way to introduce this writing task. (Note: My provided topics align with the thematic graphic organizer that students completed throughout the unit.)

There you go! I hope this post inspires you to try out teaching Refugee by Alan Gratz in your classroom this year! The resources mentioned in this post (as well as many more!) are available in the Refugee Novel Study Reading Unit bundle .

Looking for more complete novel study units? Check out these blog posts about other popular middle school novels!

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Trauma and Coming of Age

Refugee centers on the stories of three children forced to flee from their homes: Josef , a 12-year-old Jewish boy fleeing Germany during World War II; Isabel , an 11-year-old Cuban girl attempting to cross the ocean to Miami in 1994; and Mahmoud , a 13-year-old Syrian boy caught in civil war in 2015. Because Gratz uses three children as the lenses through which readers experience the story, the book also tracks the coming of…

Injustice and Cruelty vs. Empathy and Social Responsibility

In Refugee , Gratz explores how non-refugees treat those who are journeying through or landing in their home countries, weaving patterns among the people who meet Josef , Isabel , and Mahmoud . Gratz employs two kinds of non-refugees in his novel: those who dehumanize or ignore the protagonists’ plights, and those who are empathetic and attempt to help. Gratz demonstrates how when a group of people is dehumanized, it is easier for others to…

Hope vs. Despair

Refugee ’s three storylines focus on three societies in the throes of their worst political crises, to the point where the society as a whole has succumbed to a kind of despair. Likewise, Josef , Isabel , and Mahmoud face myriad obstacles, setbacks, dilemmas, and severe tragedies as a result of those conflicts. But as much as they are unable to control the conditions that they are forced to face, the novel’s three protagonists and…

Family, Displacement, and Culture

All three of Refugee ’s protagonists are forced to flee the only culture they have ever known, but Josef and Isabel in particular fear the erasure of their personal cultural identity, or a future inability to connect to the place they once called home. Gratz refutes the idea that they will lose this sense of culture, however, due in large part to the fact that Josef and Isabel remain connected to a family that shares…

Invisibility and the Refugee Experience

One of the aspects of being a refugee that is particularly difficult for Mahmoud is feeling invisible. Mahmoud is the only one of the three protagonists whose journey frequently causes him to interact with people native to the countries through which he is traveling. As he moves from Syria to Germany, he grapples with the idea of whether it is better to be seen, or better to blend in with the crowd and make as…

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Refugee Discussion Guide

Click below to see the Scholastic Discussion Guide for Refugee created by Connie Rockman. It includes pre-reading and post-reading activities and questions for discussing key ideas and details, craft and structure, and integration of knowledge and ideas. Designed for grades 3-8.

Return to Refugee

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by Alan Gratz

Refugee essay questions.

What role does the concept of survival play in Refugee ?

Survival plays a significant role in Refugee as one of the book's major themes. The theme of people striving to live through trying circumstances is first introduced in Josef's storyline. As a survivor of Dachau, Josef's father knows the extent of the Nazis' brutality and is determined to force his way onto the MS St. Louis , seeing escape from Germany as his only chance at survival. Meanwhile, the Castillos' and Fernandezes' struggle to keep their homemade watercraft afloat amid storms and swarming sharks highlight the characters' efforts to survive. Mahmoud's storyline also touches on survival when his family members are stranded in the Mediterranean with fake life jackets, and he takes the life jacket of a dead man to save his mother. Despite the moral implications, Mahmoud's biological imperative to stay alive makes him act in ways he never thought possible.

What role does the concept of self-sacrifice play in Refugee ?

As one of the novel's most important themes, self-sacrifice plays a significant role in Refugee. The theme first appears in Isabel's story, when she sacrifices her treasured trumpet to obtain gasoline, which she uses to get her family on the Castillos' boat out of Cuba. Additionally, Lito's diversion of the US Coast Guard highlights the importance of self-sacrifice in ensuring his family's survival. Towards the end of the book, the theme comes up again when Ruthie informs Mahmoud that her brother Josef went to a concentration camp in order to secure her freedom. Josef's selflessness has a lasting impact, allowing Ruthie to offer refuge to the Bisharas many years later. In this way, Gratz shows how people's willingness to be honorable and put others' needs before their own contributes to a better world in which one person's freedom can extend to the freedom of countless others.

In what ways does Gratz explore the concept of visibility in Refugee ?

Defined as the extent to which someone attracts attention, visibility is a significant theme in Refugee . Gratz explores the theme chiefly through his portrayals of Josef and Mahmoud. In Josef's case, the anti-Semitic propaganda ubiquitous in 1930s Germany leads to him attracting unwanted attention, his Jewish identity broadcasted to everyone because of the yellow armband Jews must wear. As an experiment, Josef walks through the German sections of a train car without the armband and is treated with the humanity he once enjoyed. In Mahmoud's story, hostility between Shia and Sunni Muslims affects his day-to-day life, and he longs to disappear from notice so as not to attract the attention of bullies. However, Mahmoud changes his mind later in the novel, having realized that he and other refugees need the public to care about their struggle. To make himself and others visible, he leads a group of refugees across the country to Austria, attracting media coverage and gaining the compassion of people around the world. In this way, he regains his humanity by making himself visible.

How is displacement significant to the different storylines of Refugee ?

As one of the book's major themes, displacement plays a significant role in Refugee . In Josef's narrative, the rise of Hitler and the anti-Semitic policies of the Nazi Party progressively erode his German-Jewish family's cultural ties to Germany. In 1939, Josef's father is released from a concentration camp under the condition that he relocate his family outside the country, making their physical and cultural displacement complete. In Isabel's story, her family leaves their economically repressed and politically oppressive home in search of a better life in the United States, at the risk of losing touch with Cuban culture. In Mahmoud's narrative, his family endures the ravages of civil war until a bomb destroys their home, resulting in their physical displacement. Faced with unbearable circumstances, the Bisharas join other refugees, moving from one camp to another until they find refuge in Germany. For each of the three protagonists and their families, political conditions push them out of their homes and homelands.

In what ways does Gratz explore the concept of trauma in Refugee ?

The theme of trauma is a central focus of the novel. Gratz presents the theme most directly through Josef's father, Aaron Landau. After he spends six months at the Dachau concentration camp, where he endures starvation and psychological torture and is forced to witness Nazis drowning Jewish prisoners, Aaron is traumatized beyond recognition. While leaving Germany with his family, Aaron exhibits symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, manifesting mainly as paranoia. For instance, Aaron is too afraid to leave his cabin on the MS St. Louis , believing the Nazis on the ship will capture him. Aaron's inability to process his trauma eventually leads him to attempt suicide by leaping off the ship while it is in a Cuban harbor. He survives, but arrives in the hospital in such poor psychological condition that the Cubans don't return him to his family on the ship when it turns around.

Refugee Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Refugee is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

earthly analogy

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Refugee reflection pages 236-252

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Find three figures of speech

“Isabel woke to a warm orange glow on the horizon and a silver sea stretching out before them like a mirror. It was as though the storm had been some kind of feverish nightmare. Señor Castillo woke from his nightmare too, parched like a...

Study Guide for Refugee

Refugee study guide contains a biography of Alan Gratz, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Refugee
• Refugee Summary
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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Immigration — Refugee

Essays on Refugee

Hook examples for refugee essays, anecdotal hook.

Imagine fleeing your homeland, leaving behind everything you've ever known, and embarking on a perilous journey to seek safety and refuge. As we explore the experiences of refugees, let's step into their shoes and understand the challenges they face on their quest for a better life.

Quotation Hook

""Refugees are not terrorists. They are often the first victims of terrorism."" These words from António Guterres, former UN High Commissioner for Refugees, underscore the misconceptions surrounding refugees. Join me as we dispel myths and shed light on the plight of those forced to flee their homes.

The Global Refugee Crisis Hook

The world is facing a staggering refugee crisis, with millions of people displaced by conflict, persecution, and environmental factors. Explore the magnitude of the crisis and the need for international cooperation and compassion in providing refuge.

Refugee Resilience and Contributions Hook

Refugees are not passive victims; they are resilient individuals who contribute to the societies that welcome them. Analyze the talents, skills, and cultural diversity that refugees bring to their host communities.

The Role of Empathy Hook

Empathy is a powerful force in understanding the refugee experience. Delve into the importance of empathy in fostering solidarity and support for refugees, and the role it plays in shaping policies and attitudes.

Children and Education in Refugee Camps Hook

Refugee children often face interrupted education and trauma. Investigate the efforts to provide education and psychological support to young refugees in camps and host countries.

Refugee Stories of Triumph Hook

Behind every refugee statistic is a unique and resilient individual. Share the inspiring stories of refugees who have rebuilt their lives, pursued their dreams, and made positive contributions to their new communities.

Characters in The Novel Refugee

The impact of refugees on the countries in which they settle, made-to-order essay as fast as you need it.

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The Main Reasons of The Increasing Amounts of Refugees in The World

Reasons for the increasing amounts of refugees around the globe, why refugees should be accepted, status of refugees in the eyes of international law, let us write you an essay from scratch.

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The Impact of a Refugee Crisis on The Migrants

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Syrian Refugee Resettlement in America

The refugee experience in inside out & back again by thanhha lai, fighting ignorance: the documentary with representation of refugees and asylum seekers, iran - one of the largest refugee hosting countries in the world, understanding deconstructing discrimination through my experience at a thanksgiving dinner for refugees, representation of children refugees in inside out & back again and children of war, the effect of hostilities on the number of sexual assaults, refugee asylum in elysium by neill blomkamp: the concept discussed, nauru and manus island: crimes against humanity in the detention of refugees, the syrian war and rwanda, regional representation of unhcr in bahrain, a research on syrian refugee children’s assimilation into canadian society, the importance of remembering history: syrian refugee crisis, the issue of medical attention to syrian refugees in camps, the changes of technology and communication of denmark's concerns, a look at the acceptance of immigrants from syria, big data and refugees and the role of phone for migrants, malaysia’s dilemma in the rohingya issue, exit west: politics of war in literature, complexities of the global refugee crisis.

A refugee, generally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national boundaries and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

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Essay Samples on Refugee

The european migrant crisis: impact on politics and national identity.

Immigration has always played a large role in history, bringing out the best and the worst in people. In the U.S., which is considered the land of immigrants, the Statue of Liberty serves as a beacon welcoming people seeking a better life. For decades, citizens...

Analysis of the Refugee Story in 'Indise Out and Back Again'

This a refugee story essay highlights struggles of the refugee experience when their lives were suddenly changed. Here we will analyse the story of the book called 'Indise Out and Back Again' where the author clearly shows what is like to be a refugee. Refugees...

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Should Refugees Be Accepted to New Countries: Content Reflection

Should refugees be accepted in new countries? In this essay, I will look at the mentioned topic from different points of view, as there are both positive and negative sides to this current issue. A massive number of refugees drown in the middle of the...

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The Meaning of the Title "Inside Out and Back Again"

Refugees are people forced to flee from their country usually because of war, persecution, or natural disaster. While fleeing home their lives turn inside out because of loss, hunger, and homelessness. While finding home their lives turn back again because of moving forward, learning new...

The Case Of The Italian Immigration Crisis And Its Solutions

The European continent, due to its geographical disposition and its enormous historical importance, can be considered the “heart” of the world. The argument asserting that we live in a world dominated by Western Eurocentric canons and values, no matter how contradictory and biased it may...

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The Issue of Immigration in Honduras

Thousands of people fled Honduras the course of a few weeks November 2018, raising the question; why are so many people fleeing Honduras? Honduras is considered one of the least established countries in Central America with an extremely high crime, and poverty rate. Bartolo Fuentes...

Cast Away: The Accounts of the Refugee Experience

Introduction Charlotte McDonald-Gibson has been reporting on almost every aspect of the European migration crisis, and her book Cast Away offers a rare and a detailed glimpse into the life, dilemmas and the choices the refugees had to make at each stage of their agony....

The Struggles of Ha and Refugees in Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Refugee and the character Ha from Thanhha Lai Inside Out And Back Again of how they turn inside out and back again. Before Ha flees her home she never got bullied, people didn’t throw rocks at her window. Ha’s life has turned inside out. Refugee...

The Journey of Refugees in Inside Out and Back Again

A refugee can be any person who has left their home because they are afraid for their safety if they stay. Once refugees leave home, they have to find asylum in another country until they can move into a new home. When refugees flee, their...

The Experiences of Child Refugees in Children of War by Arthur Brice and Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Throughout history, millions of people across the world have gone through the universal refugee experience of fleeing their countries, and finding a new home in societies abroad. A refugee is someone who is forced to flee from their home country to escape conflict or danger....

How Refugees Impact Crime Rates and Economy of the Country

Decision making can often times be boiled down to two different categories, Rational level minded decisions and spontaneous emotional decisions. The same can be said about the on-going problem surrounding refugee’s entry into a country. According to the UNHCR refugee agency, a refugee is someone...

Putting People Over Politics in the Refugee Politics

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Gunships or Rescue Mission: Immigration and Refugee Problem

There are many top news breaking stories that are happening around the world, but none of them have the same significance as the immerging immigration and refugee problem. Halfway around the world, in the Mediterranean, there is a number of refugees and immigrants that are...

Syrian Refugee Crisis in Europe

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Report on Syrian Refugee Camps near Lebanon

Even before the revolution started, citizens were complaining from a lack of jobs, corruption and political freedom. In March 2011, the southern city of Syria, Deraa had protests against the government which resulted the government to use deadly forces to end the small revolution they...

The Unstability of European Refugee Crisis

Introduction In the past 2 years, the dilemma of European Exile has been experienced growth which puts a great compression on European countries. The notorious disaster has roots in April 2015 as five ships transporting 2000 exiles overturned in the Mediterranean which lead to about...

The Greek Refugee Crisis: A Humanitarian Catastrophe in the European Union

Introduction Every year, a staggering number of over 1,200,000 refugees brave the treacherous Aegean Sea in search of a better life, escaping the dangers that have engulfed their homelands. Europe beckons as a beacon of hope and safety for these desperate souls, but for too...

Analysis Of Rreshpja V. Gonzales Case As An Example Of Refugee Persecution

Persecution is a key influencer which can be traced back to our continuing refugee crisis. A person who has been given no choice but to leave his/her country due to political crisis natural disaster, or victimization and other breach human rights forcing someone to seek...

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Best topics on Refugee

1. The European Migrant Crisis: Impact on Politics and National Identity

2. Analysis of the Refugee Story in ‘Indise Out and Back Again’

3. Should Refugees Be Accepted to New Countries: Content Reflection

4. The Meaning of the Title “Inside Out and Back Again”

5. The Case Of The Italian Immigration Crisis And Its Solutions

6. The Issue of Immigration in Honduras

7. Cast Away: The Accounts of the Refugee Experience

8. The Struggles of Ha and Refugees in Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

9. The Journey of Refugees in Inside Out and Back Again

10. The Experiences of Child Refugees in Children of War by Arthur Brice and Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

11. How Refugees Impact Crime Rates and Economy of the Country

12. Putting People Over Politics in the Refugee Politics

13. Gunships or Rescue Mission: Immigration and Refugee Problem

14. Syrian Refugee Crisis in Europe

15. Report on Syrian Refugee Camps near Lebanon

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Novel Study Activities for the book Refugee by Alan Gratz

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What an incredible novel this is! My students were intensely interested in and engaged with Refugee by Alan Gratz. It’s an incredibly moving book with so many opportunities for great discussions and critical thinking. While working through this novel with my students I came up with and compiled many activities to support our understanding of the text.

Background info on Refugee by Alan Gratz:

The story centers around 3 young people who each find themselves having to flee their country. Josef is a young boy from 1939 Germany who is fleeing the Germany with his family. Isabel is a young girl from Cuba in 1994 and she flees the country with her family to escape the regime of Fidel Castro. The third storyline is Mahmoud’s. He is a Syrian boy who also flees his country with his family. Each story outlines their perilous journeys to find safety in a new country.

Each chapter in Refugee lends itself very well to critical thinking comprehension questions that lead to great class discussions. I recommend this novel for students in 5th grade and up due to the more mature nature of some of the content.

Novel Study Activities and Ideas for Refugee by Alan Gratz:

I did some pre-reading with my students using picture books. Eve Bunting’s Gleam and Glow is a great one as well as My Beautiful Birds by Suzanne Del Rizzo .

I found this book trailer on youtube that I showed prior to beginning reading.

You can make a free account on Epic which has all kinds of fiction and non-fiction books for kids including many audio books. Refugee is included there as an audio-book and it has different people doing the voices for each character complete with accents. This is how we listened to the book as a read aloud.

After reading the first several chapters I sent home a homework assignment . Students had to pretend they were refugees being forced to leave their home, never to return. They had to get a parent to time them for 10 minutes while they packed a bag. When the time was up they were to take a picture of the contents of their backpack and then email it to me. I gave them Thursday-Sunday to complete the activity and then on Monday we shared our pictures and talked about why they packed the items they did. Several parents emailed me to tell me how much they loved doing the assignment with their children because it sparked some great conversations at home.

Here are some of the backpack photos:

I also created comprehension questions to go with every chapter though I didn’t  have them respond in writing after each chapter because the chapters are short. We would read through about 3 chapters (touching on each main character) and they would respond orally to a few questions. Then after another 3 chapters I had them respond in writing or on their chromebook to questions that I had already made up. Sometimes I would have them summarize the chapter and look up vocabulary as well. You can find my novel study in my TPT shop and it includes about 200 pages of comprehension questions and other activities. There’s a printable version as well as a digital version for Google Slides. Here are some sample pages – you can also find the homework assignment note to parents in this novel study as well as a recording sheet for author questions, among other activities.

My students had a lot of questions for the author of Refugee, Alan Gratz. So we recorded our questions and then watched a Q and A on youtube to see if our questions were answered. If questions aren’t answered students can tweet the author to see if he will answer. Here’s the Q and A on youtube:

Another activity you can do with your students is check out this scribble map .

The Scribble Map has pins in all of the places the characters went. When you click on each pin there is a quote from the book from that location. We would visit the Scribble map after each reading to see where the characters were on the map.

Another fun activity is starting a Flip Grid for students to response to questions. We connected with a classroom across the country from us who were also reading Refugee and then we all responded to the questions on the same flip grid. It was neat for my students to get to hear how other students were feeling about the same chapter. We connected to the other classroom through a facebook group for educators. If you’re looking to connect with other educators you can join my 3rd to 5th facebook group .

At the end of the book you can have students research various refugee groups to create a current connection for them. They can use Google Sites to create awareness pages for the refugee group they researched and make presentations to other classes or share their websites on Twitter.

This website has some great resources and lessons as well for looking at other refugee groups.

The website Canva also has a FREE Venn Diagram maker that you can use to compare the stories. I use Canva with my students for infographics as well but I recently found out about their Venn Diagram maker.

You can also have them write a new final chapter because they ending leaves them hanging on certain things so this gave them a sense of closure.

My students couldn’t believe that many of the events that occurred in this novel actually happened in real life so we often explored historical resources like this encyclopedia entry about the St. Lewis.

You can also show your students this video from Kids Meet where they meet a refugee.

I hope you got some great ideas to support your reading of the book Refugee by Alan Gratz .  Feel free to share any more ideas in the comments.

You can find my novel study in my store here .

The form you have selected does not exist.

July 7, 2020 at 12:23 pm

This is excellent ! I am a remote learning tutor for the summer and these ideas were perfect for the families I am working with. Michele in New Hampshire

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Literary Fusions

Integrating literacy in K-12 classrooms.

Book Review: Refugee by Alan Gratz

April 23, 2018 By Jessica

Refugee by Alan Gratz was chosen for two T exas Library Association lists:  The Lone Star List and The Bluebonnet List ! I didn’t even know that was possible. The other reason I chose Refugee  from the suggested lists was the timely topic of refugees and how people react.

Why I Finished It:

The only reason why someone would not finish Refugee  is from heartache! This book follows three children and their families through horrendous times in history: Nazi Germany, Fidel Castro in Cuba, and Assad in Syria (still happening, unfortunately). Gratz shares fictional stories based on real events of how families have been brutally forced from their homes, separated from loved ones, and treated like property. Through his masterfully told story, he challenges us “regular humans” to take a stand, to be compassionate, and be willing to fight degrading treatment of humans in the face of danger. I finished it quickly, but it will stew in my head for a long time. This book easily goes down on my list of favorite books of all time: The Crossover , Deadline , and How They Croake d.

Who I Would Give It To:

HUMANS! All humans need this book! Regardless of the target audience (4-8 grade), Refugee  is emotionally raw and forces the reader outside of their comfort zone to be more humane! And let’s be honest, these events are still happening in our world today, so there’s the current connection as well.

Integration Ideas:

Informal Research of Current and Historical Events

There is no denying that Gratz is a master of the written word, however much of the power of this story for me is in the fact that I knew the history! I know quite a bit about the treatment of Jews under Nazi rule, I knew less (but still enough) about Castro’s reign of terror, and I am familiar with Assad’s rule of Syria. Knowing the historical context on some level, made me connect with the children in this story in an intense way! I want my students to have that same connection, so I would divide my class into three sections and have them conduct informal research as a group on these three times in history. Then each group will present out to the others.

Here are some links to help (please note the sensitivity of the subject matter and preview sites before you hand them out):

• Larry Ferlazzo’s Blog – Resources (links and videos) on what’s happening in Syria
• Kid World Citizen – Maps, resources, videos and how to help sites
• The Guardian – Download a “where it all began” document
• Education World – Teaching the Holocaust
• Ducksters Education Site – World War II – Holocaust overview of information
• Scholastic – A Collection of Resources to teach the Holocaust
• US Holocaust Museum Site – Resources for students
• Encyclopedia Britannica – Fidel Castro
• CNN – A timeline of Castro
• Teaching Social Responsibility – Cuba and the US
• Ducksters – Fidel Castro

Theme and Essential Questions

We always pull out one or two major themes from a novel and create an essential question. Refugee  is about survival and courage from the point of view of the refugee for sure, but it is also about the courage of those not directly affected, the courage to step up and make a change.

Possible essential questions:

• What responsibility, if any, do we have to strangers in a crisis?
• When is it important to fight for civil rights? How can a child fight for civil rights?

There are so many more possibilities with this powerful book, but I am passionate about creating social activists in my classroom. The ideas in Refugee  really go nicely with bullying programs in schools and the idea of standing up for someone who is being abused, or becoming invisible, so the tables don’t get turned on you.

A few powerful points brought up in the book (and there are way more than what I’m sharing) are:

• How do people survive and change through such horrendous treatment? Do people become somewhat of a shell, devoid of feelings and with a broken spirit? Do they become outspoken and brazen? Do they try to hide and become invisible?
• Becoming a victim of a reign of terror can happen to anyone at any time if people allow it to happen. If people sit by and ignore these catastrophic events, they are silently condoning such behavior.

Vocabulary :

This book has great word choice and I pulled out some vocabulary. Please choose only a handful to teach! I also pulled out some content language/words to bring to students attention as they read.

• rationing (8)
• recoiled (9 & 181)
• indignation (17)
• summoned (28)
• melodious (30) ethereal (30
• catatonic (31)
• lurched (36)
• disinfected (40)
• waning (60)
• artillery (70)
• paranoia (74)
• asylum (90)
• dissident (100)
• ominous (108)
• profusely (115)
• inconsolable (133)
• dinghy (141)
• berating (148)
• oppressive (148)
• pandemonium (158)
• respite (160)
• incoherently (183)
• chastised (190)
• somber (224)
• instantaneous (240)
• condolences (241)
• mutiny (254)

Content words:

• swastika (3 & 35)
• brownshirts (3)
• synagogues (5)
• Kristallnacht (5)
• communist (8)
• Mu’adhadhin (30)
• Guantanamo Bay (42)
• yarmulkes (75)
• “The Storm of the Century” (154)

Research and Take Action

This book is too powerful to end when the students finish reading. Have them continue learning about refugees (past and present). Have them learn what they can do to help and what organizations are trying to make a difference.  Here are some sites:

• Facing History and Ourselves Lesson Plan
• Amnesty International – resources to understand the refugee crisis
• Brown University – The Choices Program
• Annenberg Media – Curriculum Resources for Teaching about Refugees
• The UN Refugee Agency – Teaching Resources
• Pulitzer Center – What is it like to be a refugee?
• Refugee lesson plan

Author website – https://www.alangratz.com/writing/refugee/

We would love to hear your feedback on the book or lesson ideas!

Copyright Statement

Content © 2024 Jessica Rogers and Sherry McElhannon of Literary Fusions and literaryfusions.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors and owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Literary Fusions and literaryfusions.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Reader Interactions

November 6, 2018 at 6:13 am

This information is very helpful.Thank you.

November 7, 2018 at 3:55 pm

Love your review:)

November 9, 2018 at 1:54 pm

August 24, 2019 at 8:39 pm

October 28, 2019 at 6:00 pm

I read the book. It was good. 😉

October 29, 2019 at 9:07 am

It is still one of our favorites!

October 27, 2020 at 6:05 pm

I’m reading the book right now for school but I honestly would read it in my own time!!! Great review btw.

October 28, 2020 at 3:12 am

Thank you. We feel the same way about that book. It is definitely a favorite with our students.

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Essay on Refugee by Alan Gratz

Three kids have a common goal, to escape their horrible conditions. When the journey to freedom faces them with the worst & they go through the most dreadful situations something inside them changes and they learn to persevere. The book Refugee by Alan Gratz takes us through the escape of 3 different children. Joseff is with his family to escape being sent to concentration camps. Isabel is forced to leave after her home when Cuba goes extremely poor and living conditions are unsuitable for her and her family. Finally, Mohmand leaves after a warfare spreads through his country & his home.takes 

When we lose things we love we can still learn to persevere. Josef is living in a nightmare. Him and his family are Jewish and the Nazis have told them they are not allowed to practice their religion. They have no rights and are treated horribly. Josef's father is taken away for practicing his religion one night “Two of the Nazis yanked Josef's father to his feet and dragged him towards the door” (Gratz 3). After this tragedy occurs Josef's mother moves them out. Traveling across the world in  search of freedom proves harder than expected. When Josef’s father is released from Concentration camp, he is not the same father that Josef had grown up with and loved so dearly. “Josef gave his mother a frightened look that said What's wrong with papa?” (Gratz 37). 

After seeing his father like this the family soon realizes that Josef’s father is no longer a “father figure” and Josef starts to take charge. After his Bar Mitzvah, a Jewish celebration of man to boy, Josef becomes more responsible and instead of constantly talking about the mental loss of his father he steps in to become the father figure for his younger sister. “Maybe this is what becoming a man is, Maybe becoming a man means not relying on your father anymore” (Gratz 75). Weeks after his Bar Mitzvah Josefs father attempts to jump off the side of the boat. Again Josef is saddened by this, but sticks with his family and stays strong and really proves that whatever may face us can be pushed through.

When our hopes are crushed we tend to stop wanting to try to reach other goals, but no matter what we can get through it while changing and maturing as a person. Isabel’s home is located in Cuba and their country's economy is slowly plummeting. She is running out of food to eat and her family is slowing losing hope of staying alive in the conditions. Her family finally decides to escape with their neighbors, which includes Isabel’s best friend Ivan. They're boat is made of the worst materials, but after sailing for so long they finally come across land, in the Bahamas. They're so relieved to have finally found land. 

Unfortunately upon their arrival, they are told by a Bahamian officer “You are not allowed to land. Bahamian law forbids the entrance of illegal aliens to the Bahamas. If you step foot on Bohemian soil you will be sent back to your country of origin” (Gratz 175). At first everyone on the boat is discouraged and crushed, but after bystanders throw food and water to them, they continue their voyage and persevere until they reach Florida which allows them in.

Even at the lowest points of our lives, we can get through the worst. Mahmoud is a 12 year old boy living in Syria when a war breaks out that drives him and his family out of their home. As he searches for freedom he faces everyone's biggest fears. For example and ordinary taxi trip turns into a living nightmare “He expected to see the lights of a Serbian border town. Another tent city. Instead, they were stopped in the middle of a lonely stretch of highway surrounded by dark empty fields. And the taxi driver was leaning over the back seat with a pistol aimed straight at them” (Gratz 235). Although this experience scares Mahmoud and his family, he still continues on his journey to freedom. Although this experience is one of many that has turned Mahmounds brother into a expressionless robot. Through all of this Mahmoud learns to cherish his home and family and becomes more thankful for every little thing after his family is safe.

The book Refugee By Alan Gratz may seem like a tragic book that leaves us feeling sad, it is truly a book that teaches us a very important lesson. Even when we are faced with the worst we can get through it and change as a person for the better. This book proves this theme by showing 3 kids who go through the worst and still manage to keep an open heart and eventually find freedom. It challenges the idea that upsetting events turn us into sad people by proving that although we may be sad we have the ability to push through for the good of us and those around us.

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Essay on Refugee by Alan Gratz

Can hope prevent death? The book “Refugee” by Alan Gratz, recounts the story of three refugees who each try to survive the challenge of being a refugee. Isabel lives in Cuba, but she became a refugee after her town riots because of a food shortage. Josef is a Jew living in Germany during the horrors of the holocaust. He flees to Cuba after Nazi soldiers storm into his home and take his father to a concentration camp. Mahmoud lives in Syria, but he leaves after his apartment gets hit by a missile because of the Syrian civil war. He becomes a refugee and he flees to Germany. All of these people go through terrible experiences and make it through looting, death, and rape by having hope. Hope is necessary to survive challenging times when Isabel falls off her boat when Josef escapes Germany to go to Cuba, and when Mahmoud survives crossing the Aegean Sea.

 One moment in Refugee where hope was necessary to survive a challenging time, was when Isabel fell off her boat. On Isabel's journey, she and her family want to seek refuge in Miami Florida in the USA. But when they are sailing to Florida a storm hits them and the storm forces Isabel off her boat. “Isabel fought her way back to the surface and gasped for air” (Gratz pg 136). This quote shows Isabel's fight to succeed and to make it to the US. This shows that Isabel has the hope to make it to the US because she wants to make a better life for her family and for herself, she wants to play her trumpet on the beaches of Florida.  ThisThis hope helps her get back onto the boat and fight through the storm. She waited for years in Cuba after Fidel Castro blocked all escape routes from Cuba. But now she can escape and make it to her dream where she could eat and have a great future. But Isabel succeeds not only in surviving, but she also makes it to the United States. “ Señor Castillo fell to his knees and kissed the ground. They had made it to the states. To freedom.” (pg 298). This quote shows how she and her family succeeded because of their success, and the hope that they had. They kissed the ground because of their hope to have a stable place to stay and where they can have the chance to succeed. This hope of surviving, helps them make it to their goal where they could thrive in the United States. Without that dying hope of surviving, they would not be so happy, in fact, they would probably die in the storm if they did not have the hope to succeed.

  Another moment in Refugee where hope was necessary to survive was when Josef fled Germany to go to Cuba. During the Holocaust Jews were put in concentration camps where they were tortured, starved, and forced to work for the Nazi war machine. “The landau family wasn't going to wait around to see what the Nazis would do next” (Gratz pg 2).  Josef and his family were not going to wait to be sent to one of the death camps. But they acted quickly because of their hope to survive. Many Jews at this time had no hope, and they stayed put and were killed. Therefore, because Josef and his family had the hope to survive the holocaust, he makes it to the boat and escapes Germany. “Josef watched as one of the other passengers got down on his hands and knees and kissed the ground. If he hadn't had his hands full, Josef might have done the same thing” (pg 273). This quote shows the hope that Josef and many Jews like him had during the tough times of the holocaust, and how they wanted to find a safe place for themselves. He is so hopeful to survive that he would kiss the ground. The situation was helpless in Germany but because of the hope of success Josef makes it to France where he could finally have the freedom that he was hoping to have for years. This means, that without this hope to succeed Josef would be another body put in the incinerator at Auschwitz. But because of Josef's hope and determination, he was able to survive the first part of the holocaust.

 A third moment where hope was necessary to succeed is when Mahmoud crosses the Adriatic Sea. Mahmoud was forced out of his home after a missile hit his home in Syria. In Syria, he was bullied for being a Shia Muslim, and he just wanted to fade away and become invisible. So he hopes to make it to Germany where he could not be invisible anymore, and he could become visible and where he could finally express himself. “We have to get to Europe, what choice do we have? God will guide us” (Gratz pg 142). This shows how the hope of making it to Europe can turn into determination. And this determination to survive explains how Mahmoud chooses to ride a dignity across the Adriatic Sea. This shows how hope can help you gain determination to survive tough situations. When he is crossing it, the boat floods, and he goes overboard. “ He kicked his way back to the surface and fought to keep his head above water” (pg 107). Because of his hope, he has a new determination to survive and to make it to Germany. “No we move forward. Always forward. And we don't stop till we get to Germany” (pg 107). This proves the determination that they have to survive and the hope of success. This determination was because of the hope to get to a safe country where they would be protected and where they would have a safe home to sleep in. Therefore, because of his hope, he makes it to Germany where he can finally not be invisible, where he finally could be a man, and where he finally can become visible.

In conclusion, to survive challenging times, you need hope. This is shown in the book when Isabel falls off the boat, when Josef escapes Germany, and when Mahmoud survives the Adriatic Sea. Hope helps people survive because without hope people do not have a good reason to survive. The people around these characters lost hope, and they stayed where they were. This caused them to be killed, tortured, robbed and raped. People need hope because sometimes that is the only thing that they have. Just like Joseph or Isabel or Mahmoud where they only had hope. They had no home no friends only hope, and that helped them survive.

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My book is not my baby — but the two do have a lot in common

For me, publishing a book isn't the same as giving birth. it's more like sending my child to preschool, by noa silver.

I remember in my first year of motherhood the way I felt my world grow smaller and more intimate , the pace of my life grow slower and more focused. When my husband would come home from coaching and consulting meetings, networking events, and the workshops he facilitated, he would find me ensconced in the tiny world of our home, wrapped up in the milky sweetness of the baby. The private, domestic realm became my primary realm during those early months of motherhood, when I would walk around and around our small apartment with my baby wrapped to my chest, murmuring “shh, shh,” over and over again, like a mantra, or a prayer. Her heart beating against my heart, recreating womb-like conditions on the outside.

In the same sun-drenched week in August, that baby, my elder daughter, started preschool and I signed a publishing contract for my debut novel, "California Dreaming ." Two years after that, my younger daughter has started at that same preschool, and "California Dreaming" is mere days from being released.

Like those early months of motherhood, writing is an intensely private, solitary act. For me, to write necessitates going inward, it requires shutting out the outside world and external stimuli for the sake of being able to listen fully. My writing process takes inspiration from Anne Lamott’s practice of the one-inch picture frame. All through my daughters’ early years, I would carve out pockets of time — while they napped, or after bedtime, or when they were at the playground — to write. My pace of writing my novel was complementary to the pace of motherhood, the pace of attending to a baby and then a toddler. Each day I wrote just 250 words, filling my one-inch frame.

I am not the first to notice the connection between writing and parenting , but while many have compared publishing a book to giving birth, for me there is an even more apt comparison. Both child and book lived in and then with me for many years after their births. For me, publishing a book feels most parallel to sending my child to preschool for the first time, for it is in both these acts that that which once lived solely inside the private, domestic realm, and within only a few primary relationships, now enters the public sphere.

The distinction between the public and private realms, the separation between domestic and political spheres, has long been deeply intertwined with the preservation of a capitalistic society. Mothering so often happens outside of the public sphere, outside of the public gaze, and much has been written about the hidden, unpaid labor of caretaking. In our society, there is a hiddenness inherent in the domestic realm and a hiddenness to the lives and experiences of women.

Like those early months of motherhood, writing is an intensely private, solitary act.

Perhaps the novel form itself could be considered a kind of public square, a forum in which human relationships, motivations, self-discovery, and journeying gets played out again and again through different lenses, and under different gazes. Historically, even in the context of the novel, significant female life experiences — childbirth and abortion, breastfeeding and postpartum depression —  have not been explored nearly as deeply as those life experiences of typical male self-development.

In my writing, I am drawn to exploring the inner lives of women, especially during moments of significant life transitions. In "California Dreaming," the main character is Elena, who, over the course of the novel, grows from a young, idealistic early 20-something, into a 30-year-old woman who reckons with the decisions she has made, the values she holds and the stories she has inherited. It is a bildungsroman, a story form that traces the general and spiritual coming-of-age process, and it is told in the first-person point of view, granting Elena herself the narrative voice to describe her journey. There is an intimacy in using the first-person, a way of drawing near to the narrator that allows for greater play and insight into the narrator’s own development, her way of viewing the world, her inner life.

In an interview with Terry Gross in 1985, the writer Grace Paley reflected, “When you write, you illuminate what’s hidden, and that’s a political act.” For many years, my primary world has been the private, domestic, intimate world of mothering little children and writing and rewriting and editing a novel. A hidden world. And now, gradually, there are bridges between the private and public realms, and that which has been hidden is becoming illuminated, revealed.

In the months after giving birth, I felt the deep truth of the fact that I was not fully separate from my children. And yet, as they have grown, we have each gone through periods of differentiation, of reasserting the boundaries of self. My children no longer exist primarily in a carrier or in my arms; they are no longer solely dyadic extensions of me. They go to school, they have thoughts and experiences and dreams and feelings and wishes that I am not witness to, and that they navigate with peers and teachers and the many other people who populate their life. They have relationships that are their own.

So, too, with my novel. For many years I worked in private tandem with the novel, with my own creative process. In the months since I signed my book deal, however, I have begun to experience the way my creative process—a process of unfolding, refining, listening, and responding—is being transmuted into an object, into something that will go out into the world, into the public sphere, and there take on a life of its own. We are differentiating, my book and I, and soon it will be in relationship with others, with readers who will encounter it as themselves, and form judgments, connections, and opinions about it that are distinct from my own.

Motherhood’s value has often been located in the fact that the children we are mothering will eventually become citizens of the larger society. Similarly, a book on its publishing journey—as I have newfound understanding and appreciation for—ultimately becomes a commodity. The publishing industry measures a book’s success in sales, and even my chance at publishing another book in the future may rest on the sales numbers of my first. In these months of preparing for my book’s launch, of asking bookstores and libraries to stock my book, and friends and family to pre-order, I have been struck by my own doubts of its inherent worth. To ask people to buy it , to spend money on it, has necessarily sent me diving into questions of its value : Will this book change your life? Must it be read? Will you like it? I don’t know.

For many years, my primary world has been the private, domestic, intimate world of mothering little children and writing and rewriting and editing a novel. A hidden world.

Here’s what I do know: it had to be written. It called to me again and again during the writing process itself, that private, intimate birthing and caring for of this idea, these characters, this story, this particular viewpoint on the whole messy endeavor that we call life, and I couldn’t not write it.

In many ways, this is the same way I feel toward mothering my children. I don’t know who they will become, or what they will or will not contribute to society. I mother them in this moment, now, because they are here, in front of me, whole and perfect and messy and complete human beings just as they are. I attend to them because I must, because I am called to with my whole self.

It can seem at times that worth and value exist exclusively in the public sphere, in the shared collective, in the process of being witnessed and incorporated into the greater whole. But when this greater whole is one whose meaning rests in capital, then worth and value become markers for how much something contributes to capital: the book that sells well, or the child who grows up to be a “productive” member of society—a worker, a voter, a consumer.

It is not that I am against a shared, collective space, not that I wish for more individualized and individualistic paths toward meaning — far from it. However, in the context of a public sphere that primarily operates in terms of product, output and money, the private realm can sometimes seem a place of refuge, a place where creative process and attentive mothering can actually coexist in harmony, for the sake of attention itself, for the sake of love—and not future production or consumption.

Yet, I wonder whether that coexistence can only occur out of the public gaze, in a hidden domain, or if it would be possible for it to thrive in the public sphere. What kind of relationships could we have, the witnessers and the witnessed, in which we could write and mother from a place of intimate curiosity, where we could do so in a way that feels held by others, by community, where it is neither solely a solitary, lonely endeavor, nor one whose worth is measured in a balance sheet?

Perhaps it is only in a novel where we can fully explore that possibility.

personal stories from writers

• What if I can't "savor every single moment" of their childhood?
• The "groupie," the ghostwriter and me
• My disapproving doctor father hated my work — but we had more in common than I thought

Noa Silver was born in Jerusalem and raised between Scotland and Maine. Her debut novel " California Dreaming " is due out in May.

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Guest Essay

A Year on Ozempic Taught Me We’re Thinking About Obesity All Wrong

By Johann Hari

Mr. Hari is a British journalist and the author of “Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits — and Disturbing Risks — of the New Weight Loss Drugs.”

Ever since I was a teenager, I have dreamed of shedding a lot of weight. So when I shrank from 203 pounds to 161 in a year, I was baffled by my feelings. I was taking Ozempic, and I was haunted by the sense that I was cheating and doing something immoral.

I’m not the only one. In the United States (where I now split my time), over 70 percent of people are overweight or obese, and according to one poll, 47 percent of respondents said they were willing to pay to take the new weight-loss drugs. It’s not hard to see why. They cause users to lose an average of 10 to 20 percent of their body weight, and clinical trials suggest that the next generation of drugs (probably available soon) leads to a 24 percent loss, on average. Yet as more and more people take drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, we get more confused as a culture, bombarding anyone in the public eye who takes them with brutal shaming.

This is happening because we are trapped in a set of old stories about what obesity is and the morally acceptable ways to overcome it. But the fact that so many of us are turning to the new weight-loss drugs can be an opportunity to find a way out of that trap of shame and stigma — and to a more truthful story.

In my lifetime, obesity has exploded, from being rare to almost being the norm. I was born in 1979, and by the time I was 21, obesity rates in the United States had more than doubled . They have skyrocketed since. The obvious question is, why? And how do these new weight-loss drugs work? The answer to both lies in one word: satiety. It’s a concept that we don’t use much in everyday life but that we’ve all experienced at some point. It describes the sensation of having had enough and not wanting any more.

The primary reason we have gained weight at a pace unprecedented in human history is that our diets have radically changed in ways that have deeply undermined our ability to feel sated. My father grew up in a village in the Swiss mountains, where he ate fresh, whole foods that had been cooked from scratch and prepared on the day they were eaten. But in the 30 years between his childhood and mine, in the suburbs of London, the nature of food transformed across the Western world. He was horrified to see that almost everything I ate was reheated and heavily processed. The evidence is clear that the kind of food my father grew up eating quickly makes you feel full. But the kind of food I grew up eating, much of which is made in factories, often with artificial chemicals, left me feeling empty and as if I had a hole in my stomach. In a recent study of what American children eat, ultraprocessed food was found to make up 67 percent of their daily diet. This kind of food makes you want to eat more and more. Satiety comes late, if at all.

One scientific experiment — which I have nicknamed Cheesecake Park — seemed to me to crystallize this effect. Paul Kenny, a neuroscientist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, grew up in Ireland. After he moved in 2000 to the United States, when he was in his 20s, he gained 30 pounds in two years. He began to wonder if the American diet has some kind of strange effect on our brains and our cravings, so he designed an experiment to test it. He and his colleague Paul Johnson raised a group of rats in a cage and gave them an abundant supply of healthy, balanced rat chow made out of the kind of food rats had been eating for a very long time. The rats would eat it when they were hungry, and then they seemed to feel sated and stopped. They did not become fat.

But then Dr. Kenny and his colleague exposed the rats to an American diet: fried bacon, Snickers bars, cheesecake and other treats. They went crazy for it. The rats would hurl themselves into the cheesecake, gorge themselves and emerge with their faces and whiskers totally slicked with it. They quickly lost almost all interest in the healthy food, and the restraint they used to show around healthy food disappeared. Within six weeks, their obesity rates soared.

After this change, Dr. Kenny and his colleague tweaked the experiment again (in a way that seems cruel to me, a former KFC addict). They took all the processed food away and gave the rats their old healthy diet. Dr. Kenny was confident that they would eat more of it, proving that processed food had expanded their appetites. But something stranger happened. It was as though the rats no longer recognized healthy food as food at all, and they barely ate it. Only when they were starving did they reluctantly start to consume it again.

Though Dr. Kenny’s study was in rats, we can see forms of this behavior everywhere. We are all living in Cheesecake Park — and the satiety-stealing effect of industrially assembled food is evidently what has created the need for these medications. Drugs like Ozempic work precisely by making us feel full. Carel le Roux, a scientist whose research was important to the development of these drugs, says they boost what he and others once called “satiety hormones.”

Once you understand this context, it becomes clear that processed and ultraprocessed food create a raging hole of hunger, and these treatments can repair that hole. Michael Lowe, a professor of psychology at Drexel University who has studied hunger for 40 years, told me the drugs are “an artificial solution to an artificial problem.”

Yet we have reacted to this crisis largely caused by the food industry as if it were caused only by individual moral dereliction. I felt like a failure for being fat and was furious with myself for it. Why do we turn our anger inward and not outward at the main cause of the crisis? And by extension, why do we seek to shame people taking Ozempic but not those who, say, take drugs to lower their blood pressure?

The answer, I think, lies in two very old notions. The first is the belief that obesity is a sin. When Pope Gregory I laid out the seven deadly sins in the sixth century, one of them was gluttony, usually illustrated with grotesque-seeming images of overweight people. Sin requires punishment before you can get to redemption. Think about the competition show “The Biggest Loser,” on which obese people starve and perform extreme forms of exercise in visible agony in order to demonstrate their repentance.

The second idea is that we are all in a competition when it comes to weight. Ours is a society full of people fighting against the forces in our food that are making us fatter. It is often painful to do this: You have to tolerate hunger or engage in extreme forms of exercise. It feels like a contest in which each thin person creates additional pressure on others to do the same. Looked at in this way, people on Ozempic can resemble athletes like the cyclist Lance Armstrong who used performance-enhancing drugs. Those who manage their weight without drugs might think, “I worked hard for this, and you get it for as little as a weekly jab?”

We can’t find our way to a sane, nontoxic conversation about obesity or Ozempic until we bring these rarely spoken thoughts into the open and reckon with them. You’re not a sinner for gaining weight. You’re a typical product of a dysfunctional environment that makes it very hard to feel full. If you are angry about these drugs, remember the competition isn’t between you and your neighbor who’s on weight-loss drugs. It’s between you and a food industry constantly designing new ways to undermine your satiety. If anyone is the cheat here, it’s that industry. We should be united in a struggle against it and its products, not against desperate people trying to find a way out of this trap.

There are extraordinary benefits as well as disturbing risks associated with weight-loss drugs. Reducing or reversing obesity hugely boosts health, on average: We know from years of studying bariatric surgery that it slashes the risks of cancer, heart disease and diabetes-related death. Early indications are that the new anti-obesity drugs are moving people in a similar radically healthier direction, massively reducing the risk of heart attack or stroke. But these drugs may increase the risk for thyroid cancer. I am worried they diminish muscle mass and fear they may supercharge eating disorders. This is a complex picture in which the evidence has to be weighed very carefully.

But we can’t do that if we remain lost in stories inherited from premodern popes or in a senseless competition that leaves us all, in the end, losers. Do we want these weight loss drugs to be another opportunity to tear one another down? Or do we want to realize that the food industry has profoundly altered the appetites of us all — leaving us trapped in the same cage, scrambling to find a way out?

Johann Hari is a British journalist and the author of “Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits — and Disturbing Risks — of the New Weight Loss Drugs,” among other books.

Source photographs by seamartini, The Washington Post, and Zana Munteanu via Getty Images.

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Refugee is a historical, young adult fiction novel by Alan Gratz.

First published in 2017, Refugee became a New York Times bestseller.

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The novel follows the stories of three refugee children in three different geographic locations and points in time. Each child experiences traumatic losses and personal victories as they struggle to escape the political instability of their homelands. Josef Landau is fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939. Isabel Fernandez is escaping Castro’s Cuba in 1994. Mahmoud Bishara is leaving Syria during the volatile regime of Bashar al-Assad in 2015.

In 1939 Germany, Josef’s life is disrupted when Nazi Brownshirts drag his father away to a concentration camp. Months later, Josef’s father is returned to his family—a broken man. The Landaus board the MS St. Louis intending to make a new life for themselves in Cuba. However, tragedy strikes when the ship is refused entry into Havana Harbor, and Mr. Landau’s panicked mental state causes him to attempt suicide. After Landau is taken to a Cuban hospital, the ship is forced to leave him behind and go in search of another haven. Although the refugees eventually find new homes in Europe, Josef and his mother are captured by Nazis and die in a concentration camp. The only survivor is Josef’s little sister, Ruth.

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In 1994 Cuba, Isabel, her family, and next-door neighbors board a leaky makeshift boat to travel to a new life in Miami before Fidel Castro can prevent their emigration. Over the course of their journey, the little band battles a hurricane, a near collision with an oil tanker, a motor that refuses to start, and a shark attack that kills one of the shipmates. Just as they are about to be apprehended by a US Coast Guard vessel, Isabel and her companions reach land in Miami, where they can start a new life for themselves.

In 2015 Syria, the wall of the Bishara apartment house is blown out by a missile strike. This convinces Mahmoud’s father that they need to leave the country immediately. Mahmoud and his family encounter unimaginable hardships as they travel through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, and Hungary on their way to their destination. In Hungary, the family is about to be deported back to Syria when Mahmoud leads a refugee march out of the detention center. The group walks all the way to the Austrian border, where they are welcomed. When Mahmoud and his family are placed with a host family in Germany, their sponsor proves to be Josef’s sister, Ruth. Josef’s sacrifice in 1940 made it possible for Ruth to help a new generation of refugees in 2015.

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