Refugee: Author's Craft, Themes & Evidence — What Does "Home" Mean?

Refugee: Author's Craft, Themes & Evidence — What Does "Home" Mean?
Three Definitions of Home Exhibit | Grades 6–8

Is home a place, a feeling, or the people we love? What happens when everything familiar is taken away?

In this engaging, no-prep lesson, students investigate how Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud's definitions of home evolve throughout Refugee by Alan Gratz. Through collaborative research, close reading, and textual analysis, students explore how displacement changes each character's understanding of safety, family, identity, and belonging.

Students apply their findings by creating a Three Definitions of Home Exhibit, using textual evidence to compare the protagonists' experiences and explain what Gratz ultimately communicates about the meaning of home.

What's Included
- Teacher Directions with lesson flow, differentiation, and assessment ideas
- Student Overview
- Mini Research Questions
- Five-Step Group Research Activity
- Three Student Worksheets for evidence collection, comparative analysis, and developing conclusions
- Color and Black-and-White Versions of Student Worksheets

Students Will
- Investigate what home means to Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud
- Identify significant moments that shape each character's understanding of home
- Collect and analyze specific textual evidence
- Explore connections between home, safety, family, culture, identity, and belonging
- Trace how each character's definition of home changes throughout the novel
- Compare similarities and differences across three historical experiences
- Analyze how Gratz uses multiple perspectives to develop a larger message
- Develop an evidence-based interpretation of what home truly means
- Create and present a collaborative Three Definitions of Home Exhibit

Why Teachers Love It
- No Prep Required: Ready-to-use directions and structured student activities
- Flexible Timing: Designed for 1–2 class periods of 45–60 minutes each
- Meaningful Literary Analysis: Moves students beyond plot summary to examine character development and theme
- Collaborative Learning: Encourages discussion, research, and evidence-based reasoning
- Critical Thinking: Challenges students to explore the deeper meaning of home across three distinct experiences
- Textual Evidence Focus: Strengthens students' ability to support interpretations with specific details
- Creative Application: Students transform their findings into a thoughtful museum-style exhibit
- Built-In Differentiation: Supports a range of reading levels and learning needs
- Print-Friendly: Includes color and black-and-white student worksheets

Perfect For
- Refugee by Alan Gratz novel studies
- Middle school Language Arts and Literature
- Theme and central idea analysis
- Character development and perspective lessons
- Compare-and-contrast activities
- Close reading and textual evidence practice
- Collaborative literary investigations
- Small-group research and presentations
- Discussions about displacement, identity, and belonging

Help students discover that home is more than a location—it's a powerful idea shaped by our experiences, relationships, and sense of belonging!
Through this investigation, students gain a deeper understanding of how Gratz connects three different refugee journeys to explore universal questions about home, identity, safety, and the human need to belong.

This resource is an independent educational supplement and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Alan Gratz or the novel's publisher. A copy of the novel is required.