By: Alan Gratz
Rate: very good
Josef was a Jew in the 1930s, when Nazis ruled Germany. One night his dad is captured by Nazis, but the rest of Josef’s family, made up of Josef, his mom, and his 6-year-old sister, Ruthie, later hear that he is released. The family travels on a ship to Cuba in order to escape Germany. On the ship, Josef and Ruthie have a lot of fun, but Josef’s dad became crazy after he returned from the concentration camp. Finally, the ship St. Louis docks in Cuba, but the people there don’t let it in, so the ship goes to America, which unfortunately also refuses them. Josef’s crazy father jumps into the ocean, is rescued, but cannot go anywhere with his family and stays in Cuba. With no other choice, Captain Schroeder decided to split the passengers between 4 countries in Europe. Josef’s family is assigned to France, but it is captured by the Nazis soon, and Josef and his family are captured again. His mom tries to give them diamonds that she treasures in order to gain freedom, but the Nazis say they can only buy freedom for one of the children. Josef, to save Ruthie, sacrifices himself…..
Isabel was a Cuban girl in 1994 when Fidel Castro ruled Cuba. After many riots and unrest, her family and her best friend Iván’s family decide to take a boat to Miami, Florida. During the ride, the motor dies and starts again, and repeats Once a ship nearly crashed into them when the motor was dead, but suddenly it starts again and they escape. Also, Isabel’s Mami is having a child. Since the boat was leaking, it was going to sink, so the people agreed to let 2 people cling onto the boat in the water. When it was Isabel and Iván’s turn, Iván was bitten by a shark and died, and the little boat was surrounded by sharks. Managing to kill one of the sharks, the group had no choice but to put Iván into the sea. Suddenly, they saw Miami! But, as they rowed, the Coast Guard found them! In Cuba and America there was a Wet Foot, Dry Foot policy, where if you were found on the sea, then you were sent back to Cuba, but if you made it to land, then you get to live there. Then they realized it was not headed for them, but toward another group of refugees! Although they rowed with all their might, the Coast Guard still found them, for Mami was making noise while getting the child. Isabel’s grandfather, Lito, actually was a Cuban guard who stopped the St. Louis! He realized that when they were saying that they could go down the ship “mañana” , meaning tomorrow, tomorrow never came to them. He decided to let tomorrow come for Isabel, jumped down the boat, and pretended that he was drowning to distract the Coast Guard. Isabel made it to Miami, but Lito didn’t….
Mahmoud lives in Syria in 2015, and tries to stay “invisible” so people won’t notice and bully him. When his home is destroyed, Mahmoud is forced to escape to Germany. His family and him traveled through many countries, such as Turkey, Greece, and many others. On the journey, Mahmoud feels like each of his family members were getting “broken”. His mother had broken after her daughter, Hana, was given away by Mahmoud to keep her safe. His brother, Waleed, had been broken piece by piece. All the childish joy was sucked away from him. His always joking dad had finally been broken after getting beaten by people in Hungary. When they finally make it to Germany, and live with an old couple. Turns out the old woman there is Ruthie, Josef’s sister…
These three stories are separated by continents and decades, but they are all connected in the end.
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