Im hot, Ruthie said, pulling at her coat. What is Mahmouds brothers name in refugee? He reared back again to hit Isabel, and she flinched. Past the noise of the cars and trucks on the Malecn, past the people talking as they walked by, past the crash of the waves against the seawall behind her. What do the boat smugglers keep telling Mahmouds family? We can stay there until all this is over. It was the one with the red bandanna. He and his mother and sister would be put off the train, maybe even sent to a concentration camp. Mahmouds ears rang with a high-pitched whine, like the TV when the satellite was searching for a signal. Tomorrow morning well have the sun to guide us. All that matters now is we get as far away from Cuba as we can, said Luiss girlfriend. The trick was to be invisible. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Name the three main characters' moms., Name the younger siblings of Mahmoud and Josef., Where does Josef's boat go at first? Ivn! his father called from next door. How are Josef Isabel and Mahmoud similar? Paranoid. But Mahmoud did everything he could to hide his size and his face, to stay under the radar. The "Middle East & Africa Air Barrier market" is divided into vapour permeable and vapour impermeable materials, according to recent industry data. She ran home again. They were men, mostly, many of them shirtless in the hundred-degree August heat, their white and brown and black backs glistening in the sun. Amiel The connection between Isabel and Josef's story is that Lito was the police officer who jumped off of the U.S St. Louis to save Josef's father when he tried to commit suicide. A wife! I dont have time for games, he would tell me. Incidents like this were common in Aleppo lately. Mahmoud pulled Waleed behind a burned-out car, his heart racing. Were refugees! Mahmoud yelled, unable to stay silent any longer. Mahmoud caught himself smiling. Alan Gratz the front cover. No! Josef just turned thirteen! Ruthie told the girls. We can sell the car there and make our way north, to Germany. Everyone stopped while Mahmouds father walked ahead. At the end of the book, Isabel is able to reconnect with her heritage when her great uncle Guillermo gives her a new trumpet, and Isabel is able to count clave. He has one brother one baby sister and a mom and dad. "Mahmoud Bishara was invisible, and that's exactly how he wanted it. At last, when they had cried all the tears they could cry, Rachel Landau led her children to her room, put her bed back together, and hugged Josef and Ruth close until morning. She tells Mahmoud that they will find, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Ruthie would have started kindergarten that year if Jews were still allowed to go to school. German families talked and laughed and argued in their compartments, just like Jews. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. Mahmouds mother broke down in tears, and his father let the life jackets he carried drop to the ground. The day they had gotten Papas telegram, Josefs mother booked tickets for all four of them to the only place that would take them: an island half a world away called Cuba. Refugee is a young adult literature novel by Alan Gratz published by Scholastic Corporation in 2017. Invisible, just as Mahmoud liked it. Safe on the sidewalk across the street, clutching Hana and Waleed, Mahmoud suddenly realized his mother had still been in the building. [6], For the 1983 science-fiction novel by Piers Anthony, see, https://www.litcharts.com/lit/refugee/characters/mahmoud-bishara, "That Huge Surprise in His Own Family Genealogy? They only see us when we do something they dont want us to do, Mahmoud realized., I see rocks! someone at the front of the dinghy yelled, and there was a loud POOM! Why not? Isabel said. Barrel bombs were filled with nails and scrap metal, and if you didnt have a wall to duck behind youd be shredded to pieces. Some of them wore regular clothes: white shirts with the sleeves rolled up, gray slacks, brown wool caps, leather work boots. I thought Id never see you again! It was. man wouldnt be talking and laughing with him. Weve spent too much time talking about it and not doing anything. Mahmoud is beaten up by the local kids for being Syrian, he's unable to gain a place in a school, and his father can't see a way for his son to have a future. He was at the final stages of his maturity thinks that he will never forget the fear of being so powerless in that moment. The family decides to trust it once again and the old man drives them to the dock. Mahmoud finally sees the power of visibility when he decides to walk out of the Hungarian detention center and lead the other refugees on a 12-hour march to Austria. In the year 1938, Josef Landauis a twelve-year-old Jewish child living in Berlin, Germany. Josef didnt want to leave. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. He was stocky, his shoulders wide and muscular despite the food shortages. Because I was just doing my job?. In the second it took for the sound to grow from a breeze to a tornado, Mahmoud dropped his pencil, put his hands to his ears, and threw himself under the kitchen table. He felt tears come to his eyes and wiped them away. Mahmoud! If theres enough people, Josef reminded his sister. [2][3]. Josef and his family were on their way to a new country. But right then, Khalid had been curled into a ball on the ground, his hands around his head while the older boys kicked him. His head was bent low, but his voice was loud and clear. Through the huge hole that used to be the wall of his apartment, Mahmoud saw gray-white clouds from missile strikes blooming all around. What other ships were they talking about? Complete your free account to request a guide. By now he knew what an incoming missile sounded like. Our home is destroyed! Mahmoud and his family travel through Serbia and into Hungary, where they are detained at a refugee camp that is built like a prison. What about my action figures? Waleed asked. Then, Mahmoud and, Mahmoud: Somewhere on the Mediterranean Sea 2015, 11 days from home (2), the bottom of the sea, and says a funeral prayer for him. Now. -Graham S. The timeline below shows where the character Mahmoud Bishara appears in. When another raft made out of an old refrigerator sank, everyone laughed. However, Hana is lost and nowhere to be found, presumably lost or dead. Go in there and unlock those doors this minute. Just because you had your bar mitzvah doesnt make you an adult, Renata told him, and Evelyne stuck her tongue out at him. The way the content is organized. She had to find her father. He wanted to look away, but he was worried that might make the guards think he was hiding something. Mahmoud is 13 years old in 2015, and lives in Aleppo, Syria with his father Youssef, his mother Fatima, his 10-year-old brother Waleed, and his infant sister Hana. My dearest Rachel! he said. His sister. The MS St. Louis had left all that behind. The differences between Sunnis and Shiites was an excuse. Mothers carried babies in slings. What are you playing at, letting them on board? he demanded. Isabel thrust her trumpet into his arms. She was very pretty, even in her blue police uniform. But when he got her aboard, Ivn and his mother then reached their hands out for the two policemen who were chasing them. Cuban music that everybody seemed to hear except her. But they hadnt closed the door tight enough. I dont remember much about him, but I do remember he always wanted to be a grown-up. The world was a whirlwind of bricks and broken dishes and table legs and heat, and Mahmoud slammed into a cabinet. Waleed Bishara. People had even broken into the Havana Zoo and eaten the animals, and cats like this little kitten had ended up on dinner tables. Mahmouds father stopped their Mercedes station wagon for gasoline at a little roadside station north of Aleppo. We need help!, The vacationers dropped their voices, and even though Mahmoud couldnt understand what they were saying, he could hear the disgust in their words. Mahmoud remembered neon malls, glittering skyscrapers, soccer stadiums, movie theaters, museums. Aaron Landau, one of the Brownshirts said to Josefs father, you have continued to practice law despite the fact that Jews are forbidden to do so under the Civil Service Restoration Act of 1933. The next car was the dining car. It was the last straw for the police. Before Jews were scared to gather together in public places. Well buy new ones! Mahmoud told him. The path was crammed full of Syrians, all strolling along like they had nothing else to do and nowhere else to go. It collapsed onto the sixth floor, and then into Mahmouds apartment, and on down like dominos. Josef could tell it wasnt something they were comfortable talking about. Together the shambling throng of refugees was ignored by the American drones and the rebel rocket launchers and the Syrian army tanks and the Russian jets. This article discusses what its like to live in Syria during a conflict. Josefs maturation continues as the situation worsens: after his father attempts suicide is separated from the family, his mother is stricken with grief, so Josef makes sure that Ruthie is being cared for and protected. Be quiet! the shadow yelled, and it tossed Ruth down on the floor beside Josef. Book hotel rooms. . But if we stay in Aleppo a day longer, we may not even have that. Mahmouds father looked from his wife to Hana to Mahmoud to Waleed. She was born the year Adolf Hitler was elected chancellor of Germanu in 1933. Her grief becomes another way in which Mahmoud is forced to grow up early, as he becomes a caretaker for his parents and feels guilty over the burden of the decision that he made. Were not criminals! one of the other men in the cell yelled at him. It had fallen five stories to the ground below, along with the outside wall. (LogOut/ No ambulances came to help the wounded. Tomorrow,' he'd told Mahmoud's father." Alan Gratz author Refugee book Youssef Bishara character despair refugees smugglers concepts 07 Fatima had long, dark hair she wore up on her head, and intense brown eyes. Gratz is the best-selling author of more than a dozen novels for children, including Refugee, which debuted on the New York Times best-seller list in August, and Ban This Book, which was released just last week. Heart in his throat, skin tingling with goose bumps, Josef took the paper armband with the Star of David off his arm, slid it into the inside pocket of his jacket, and stepped through the door. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. The family of Mahmoud intends to go to Aleppo. The woman was dressed in a white satin dress and veil. It was a salsa tune she liked to play, but this time she listened past the music. Waleed and Mahmoud sat in the car with their mother while she nursed Hana under a blanket. Stomp. Education, public health, and sports, they all said together. Im Renata Aber, said the older of the two girls, and this is Evelyne. They were sisters, and, amazingly, they were traveling alone. A few hours later, they watched from the promenade as tugboats pushed the MS St. Louis away from the dock, and passengers threw confetti and celebrated and blew tearful kisses good-bye. The German train car didnt feel any different than the Jewish car. Last updated by Jill W on 01 Sep 20:48 Answers: 1. Look at this one! he said, pointing to the wet spot on Josefs nightclothes. She was almost to Papis outstretched arms when she saw her fathers eyes go wide. He kept frowning at the motor and the rudder like there was something wrong, but besides a quick patch job of stuffing a sock into the bullet hole, everything was good. Your mother is pregnant, for one thing! Lito said. She hadnt gone nearly catatonic like Waleed, but at some point it had gotten bad enough that she just stopped talking about it. She saw her papi just as he reared back and threw a bottle that smashed into the line of police along the seawall. asked. Mahmouds mother was carrying their school backpacks, and she traded them for Hana. He took her in his arms and wrapped her in a protective hug. Then she had it. Josefs family eventually chooses to emigrate by traveling to Cuba aboard the notorious MS St. Louis. Mama! Josef cried. Unfortunately, the boat runs aground onto rocks and pops, dumping all the passengers in the freezing water. Mahmouds father, Youssef, meets them outside in the car and tells them they are escaping the country right away. No station agents stopped to ask if they needed help finding their train. It was getting harder and harder to get food in the city. Had to go back for the phone, he told them. What do you want? I need gasoline! Isabel told him. Abbas was quoted in the three dailies stating: "I have decided to take national, legal and financial measures to protect our national project.". Three. Josef wasnt ready. PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. What if there was a line of police waiting to arrest them at the beach? No room! The man threw his arms around Mama. Not like this, Josef prayed and the Hitler Youth boy pushed Josef on past. Mahmoud grapples with this question of whether it is better to be invisible or visible over the course of the novel as his family travels from Syria to Germany. -Graham S. The timeline below shows where the character Fatima Bishara appears in. To be an adult. He raised his hands to his ears and said, Allahu Akbar. God is the greatest. He wasnt used to the sounds of this new flat, the smaller one he and his family had been forced to move into. Gustav Schroeder, the ships diminutive captain, was there to greet them at the door. I know weve been talking about leaving. Evelyne and Renata were the genuine names of two sisters who came on the St. Louis, and they were the only ones permitted to disembark in Cuba since their father already resided there and had significant relations to the local authorities. If you were invisible, the bad people couldnt hurt you, that was true. Mahmoud and his parents soon become exhausted, trying desperately to hold the two young children above the water. . Mahmoud screamed again and pushed the man away as the car skidded to a stop. Mahmoud: Just Outside Aleppo, Syria 2015, 1 day from home. No police cars or emergency crews hurried to the scene. Do you want to build a snowman? his father sang. Hundreds of Germans have come forward to provide food, drink, and other goods. Theres no food to feed the baby here anyway, Isabel said. This wasnt what the tourists had paid for. Hours later, the train pulled in to Hamburg Central Railway Station. He saw two stewards who had stopped to look over the side at the sea and came up behind them. Mahmouds heart was racing, his ears still buzzed, and his shoulder burned, but they were alive. The entire outside wall of Mahmouds apartment was gone. The captain himself has arranged it, Mama said. They left the villages gravel road and hauled the boat over the dunes to the sea. He had done everything he could to avoid the Hitler Youth ever since, but now hed handed himself right over to oneand all because hed taken off his armband to walk around a train and buy a newspaper! Soon enough, a steward balancing a large silver tray came down the hall from the other end and knocked on a door. Hey, were in luck! Mahmouds dad joked.