Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Refugee by Alan Gratz

2 reviews

kathieivy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I found the book very dark at times. I enjoyed the author. I liked the way each chapter had a good cliff hanger. There are extremely sad moments in the story. 

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smasson13's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I taught this book to my grade 7 students and it was exactly the type of book they needed. 

Covering three interconnected stories, across almost 80 years of time, Refugee was a novel that introduced my students to not only the issues facing refugees, but the barriers put in place against them by nations and organizations. 

Personally, I enjoyed Isabel and Mahmoud's stories the most. It felt like Josef's was more background information to tie the others together. 

The pace was slow at times but the alternating chapters kept students engaged. I appreciated the reflective aspect and the clear skill the author has in writing for children. The book provided great opportunities to study theme, character development, dialogue, and suspense. Things were just the right side of blatant so the students understood, but still gave opportunities for further inference.  I will definitely teach this novel again.

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