Refugee: Three Stories, One NovelWhen the Stories Finally Connect |

Refugee: Three Stories, One NovelWhen the Stories Finally Connect | Hidden Connections Evidence Web Grades 5–8 | No Prep Plans

Help students uncover the carefully constructed connections hidden throughout Refugee by Alan Gratz with this engaging close-reading, research, and literary analysis lesson.

Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud live in different decades and experience very different refugee journeys, but their stories are not completely separate. Students investigate the objects, locations, characters, family connections, clues, and larger themes that link the novel’s storylines and reveal how Alan Gratz brings three individual journeys together as part of a much larger history of displacement.
Students move beyond simply identifying connections. They trace early clues to later reveals, examine details that are easy to miss on a first reading, consider why the author delays certain revelations, and analyze how discovering these connections changes their understanding of the novel as a whole.

Students Will
- Investigate hidden connections among the novel’s three storylines
- Identify early clues and trace them to later revelations
- Gather and organize evidence from the novel
- Distinguish among object, location, character/family, and thematic connections
- Analyze how their understanding of a detail changes as the novel progresses
- Consider why an author might plant a clue long before revealing its significance
- Collaborate to create a Hidden Connections Evidence Web
- Examine patterns across refugee experiences separated by time and geography
- Analyze how the novel’s three-story structure contributes to its larger meaning

What’s Included
- Teacher Directions for 1–2 class periods of 45–60 minutes
- Student-friendly lesson overview
- Mini Research Questions
- Group Activity directions
- Hidden Connections Evidence Web collaborative activity
- Follow the Hidden Connection student analysis page
- From Clue to Final Reveal student analysis page
- The Hidden Connections Web synthesis and reflection page
- Color and printer-friendly black-and-white student pages

What Teachers Love About This Lesson
This lesson gives students a reason to look back, reconsider earlier details, and connect evidence across the entire novel rather than treating Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud’s narratives as three unrelated stories.
The evidence-web format makes complex literary structure more visual and accessible while still requiring meaningful analysis. Students have opportunities to research independently, collaborate, discuss evidence, organize ideas visually, and write thoughtful individual responses.

Perfect For
Novel Studies • Refugee by Alan Gratz • Close Reading • Literary Analysis • Theme • Author’s Craft • Text Evidence • Collaborative Learning • Research Skills • ELA • Humanities • Sub Plans • Emergency Lesson Plans • Grades 5–8

Important Novel & Copyright Disclaimer
This resource is an independently created educational supplement for Refugee by Alan Gratz and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the author, publisher, or rights holders.

The novel is NOT included. Students will need legally obtained copies of Refugee to complete activities requiring reading or textual evidence.
Refugee, its characters, and storylines remain the property of their respective copyright holders.