Refugee: The Graphic Novel

Alan Gratz’s Refugee has become a graphic novel, illustrated by Iranian-born artist Syd Fini. The book follows the terrifying path of three kids in different times, countries, and settings, as they try to escape political persecution that will likely end in their death.

Isabel is a Cuban girl, leaving Havana and all she knew of home in 1994. Mahmoud is a Syrian boy, forced to leave Aleppo in 2015. Josef is a Jewish boy who must flee from Nazi Germany in the 1940s. All confront severe peril as they leave hastily with their families to find sanctuary.

As they journey across countries by land and sea, they fear drowning and violence. All will lose those dear to them, the cost to both the youngest and the oldest in their families. In their search, they must find a new country or a chance to return to their original homeland. More than once, like in Red Rover, when they near their destinations, they are thwarted by new, unexpected risks.

Refugee, originally published as a conventional novel, is transformed into a graphic format.