Nefertari International School

American Division
Sy-2023-24 4th Term Language Arts / Novel Study
Refugee Grade: Eight
Class: A -B
Chapter 1 Study Guide
Mrs. Marwa - Mrs. Nouran
Student’s Name: Date: / / 2024

Refugee by Allan Gratz

Chapter 1
Josef: Berlin, Germany - 1938
1. Why did Josef’s family move to a smaller appartement?
2. Who attacked Josef’s house?
3. What is meant by Sturmabteilung?
4. Why did the Brownshirts arrest Josef’s father?
5. How old was Josef? List the names of his family.
6. What is the night Josef’s family got attacked on called? What were the Nazis trying to deliver
through this attack?
7. What was the condition that Josef’s father released under?

Isabel: Just Outside Havana, Cuba- 1994

8. What was common between Isabel and the stray cat she was feeding?
9. Why did Cuba become a poor country?
10. Why would the Castillos get caught?
11. What did Isabel use to do with her trumpet?
12. What weren’t Isabel able to hear?

Mahmoud: Aleppo, Syria – 2015

13. How did Mahoud manage to be invisible? Why did he want to be invisible?
14. How did war affect Mahmoud and his brother?
15. Why did Mahmoud and his little brother go home from school in different route every day?
16. What is meant by the Arab Spring?
17. How did Mahmoud feel when he saw the boy with bread being beaten? How did he react?

Josef: Berlin, Germany - 1938

18. What was the yellow star of David, Josef’s family armband, impact on the people in the train
station?
19. Who was Josef’s best friend? What did he do to Josef?

Isabel: Just Outside Havana, Cuba- 1994

20. What saved Isabel’s father from the angry policeman?
21. Why did Isabel and her family have to leave Cuba that night?

Mahmoud: Aleppo, Syria – 2015

22. What did Mahmoud’s mother do for living?
23. What happened to Mahmoud while he was solving his math homework?
 Nefertari International School
American Division
Sy-2023-24 4th Term Language Arts / Novel Study
Refugee Grade: Eight
Class: A -B
Chapter 2 Study Guide
Mrs. Marwa - Mrs. Nouran
Student’s Name: Date: / / 2024

Chapter 2

Josef: On a Train to Hamburg, Germany-1939

1 day from home

1. Why was Josef grateful for The Hitler Youth?

2. How is the ship Josef's family boards shown by the author to be paradoxical?
3. What was shocking about Josef’s father when the family reunited with him?

Isabel: Just Outside Havana, Cuba- 1994

4. What happens the first two times Isabel's father tries to journey to America from Cuba?
5. What U.S. policies change and make it harder for Cuban people to seek refuge in the United
States?
6. Why did Isabel want all of them to leave Cuba and not just her father?
7. How did Isabel manage to solve the problems they faced in order to leave Cuba?

Mahmoud: Aleppo, Syria – 2015

8. Why does Mahmoud's family choose Germany as a place to run to when they leave Syria?
9. Why did Mahmoud feel like he could fly in spite of the disaster of losing their home?
10. Describe Mahmoud’s father using adjectives and justify your choice of adjectives with examples from the
story?

Josef: Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean -1939

6 days from home
11. Why did Josef consider the ship paradise and wanted to live there forever?
12. Why was Josef allowed not to wear the star of David on board of the ship

Isabel: Just Outside Havana, Cuba- 1994

13. What were the only items that Isabel and the other passengers on the tiny boat had room to
bring with them on the journey to Florida from Cuba?
14. Why were the police shooting at Isabel’s boat?

Mahmoud: Just Outside Aleppo, Syria – 2015

1 day from home
15. Why did Mahmoud’s family decide to stay away from Daesh as much as possible?
16. Who stopped Mahmoud’s family’s car? Who saved Mahmoud’s family in this situation?
17. What are some of Mahmoud’s father traits?