Josef
What is the name of the ship Josef and his family travel on?
What is the MS St. Louis?
Why is Isabel’s family trying to flee Cuba?
Cuba is under a communist government; there are little resources for the people.
What city does Mahmoud live in at the start of the story?
What is Aleppo, Syria?
What country is Mahmoud and his family trying to get to?
Germany
What is the main conflict all the main characters are facing?
They're all refugees who are trying to get to a different country for a better life.
Why is Josef persecuted by the Nazis?
Where did Isabel and her family first land?
What is Bahamas?
What statement BEST describes Mahmoud?
He is quiet and sad.
He tries to make jokes to lighten the mood.
He is brave and wise when facing true challenges.
He is very weak and not to be trusted.
He is brave and wise when facing true challenges
Mahmoud and his family flee from this war-torn Middle Eastern country in 2015.
What is Syria?
What is the BEST definition of the word, refugee?
A person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.
How does Josef feel the lower deck of the ship compares to the upper deck?
Variation of.... The lower deck represents real life more than the upper deck.
What is the “Wet Foot, Dry Foot” policy?
Along the lines of....
If Cuban refugees were caught by the US Coast Guard out at sea, they were sent back to Cuba. If they set foot on United States land, they were granted special refugee status and allowed to remain in the United States.
How does Mahmoud feel about Hana?
He feels responsible for her being lost to the family.
Mahmoud’s journey takes him through this European country, where his family is temporarily detained.
What is Hungary?
How is Mahmoud’s story connected to Josef’s at the end of the book?
Mahmoud’s family is taken in by Ruthie, Josef’s sister, in Germany.
How is Josef’s bar mitzvah a turning point for him?
any - all of these answers:
It marks his official entrance into adulthood; he considers himself a man.
It makes him realize he must get his family to safety.
After his bar mitzvah, he does not want to play games with the other children on the ship.
What instrument did Isabel trade for boat gas?
What is trumpet?
During their journey through Hungary, what happens to Mahmoud and the other refugees as they march toward Austria?
They are forced to march along the highway by armed guards, treated harshly, and seen by the world through news coverage.
Isabel escapes from this Caribbean island during a time of economic crisis and political unrest in 1994.
What role does water play in all three characters’ journeys?
Each family must cross dangerous waters: Josef by ship, Isabel by boat, and Mahmoud by raft.
Why does Josef’s father go to Professor Weiler’s funeral?
Too many men died without funerals in Dachau
A simile is a comparison between two unlike things using the words like or as. What passage from the text is an example of a smile?
She threw herself into her grandfather's arms.
People were as thick on the ground as sugarcane.
A hand grabbed her, making her jump, and she spun around.
It was the last straw for the police.
People were as thick on the ground as sugarcane.
What lesson does Mahmoud learn about being “invisible” during his journey?
That staying unnoticed kept him safe in Syria, but being visible is necessary to get help.
Which three country leaders were the antagonists in this novel with Josef, Mahmoud, and Isabel? (3 answers)
Hitler, Fidel Castro, Bashir al-Assad
What is a major theme shared by all three stories?
The struggle to find safety, the importance of family, and the resilience of the human spirit.