Josef, a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany, Isabel, a Cuban girl from 1994, and Mahmoud, a Syrian boy in 2015, each embark on perilous journeys in pursuit of sanctuary. They confront unthinkable hazards and experience violence and racial and cultural discrimination.
| ATOS Book Level | 5.3 |
| Interest Level | Middle Grades (MG 4-8) |
| AR Points | 10.0 |
| Word Count | 65915 |
| Fiction/Nonfiction | Fiction |
Quiz Answers
Question 1: Mahmoud and Waleed turned and found a different way home after they saw:
Answer: a boy with a bag of bread being attacked by two bullies.
Question 2: Isabel traded her trumpet to fisher for:
Answer: two enormous jugs of gasoline.
Question 3: What did the rabbi do before Josef’s bar mitzvah on the ship?
Answer: He asked the captain to take down the portrait of the Fuhrer.
Question 4: After the boy showed Mahmoud’s family a place to stay in the mall, he:
Answer: said they would need life vests for the boat.
Question 5: What did Josef do as the family stood in line for the Cuban doctor?
Answer: He slapped his father hard across the face.
Question 6: What happened after Ivan and Isabel spotted land?
Answer: They discovered the storm had taken the boat to the Bahamas.
Question 7: In Cuba, what did Captain Schroeder say when he returned to the ship?
Answer: The sip had to leave, and he would make appeals to President Roosevelt.
Question 8: What did the Serbian driver do after stopping the taxi on the highway?
Answer: He pointed a gun at Mahmoud’s family, demanded money and made them get out.
Question 9: What did Lito do as the Coast Guard ship neared the Castillo boat?
Answer: He jumped into the ocean and called for help to distract the Coast Guard.
Question 10: Which of these did Frau Rosenberg tell Mahmoud?
Answer: The Nazis had made her mother choose between saving her son or her daughter.
