Refugee: List 2

by Alan Gratz
Three young refugees — a Jewish boy fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939, a Cuban girl suffering under the Castro regime in 1994, and a Muslim boy trying to escape war-torn Syria in 2015 — make desperate journeys in search of freedom and safety.

This list covers pages 40–92 in the 2017 Scholastic edition.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5, List 6

Here is a link to our lists for Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz.
15 words 9987 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. languish
    experience prolonged suffering in an unpleasant situation or place
    If Cuban refugees were caught at sea with “wet feet,” they were sent to the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, at the southern end of Cuba. From there, they could choose to return to Cuba — and Castro — or languish in a refugee camp while the United States decided what to do with them.
  2. evade
    act in a way to avoid or escape from difficulty
    But if they managed to survive the trip across the Straits of Florida and evade the US Coast Guard and actually set foot on United States soil — be caught with “dry feet” — they were granted special refugee status and allowed to remain and become US citizens.
  3. anecdote
    short account of an incident
    Castro rambled on without a script, quoting novels and telling personal anecdotes about the Revolution.
  4. instigate
    provoke or stir up
    “We cannot continue guarding the borders of the United States while they send their CIA to instigate riots in Havana. That is when incidents like this occur, and the world calls the Cuban government cruel and inhumane. And so, until there is a speedy and efficient solution, we are suspending all obstacles so that those who wish to leave Cuba may do so legally, once and for all. We will not stand in their way.”
  5. fugitive
    someone who is sought by law officers
    Señor Castillo paused his hammering for a moment, then shook his head. “There’s no room. And we don’t need a fugitive on board.”
  6. sheepish
    showing a sense of shame
    Mahmoud’s dad looked sheepish. “It doesn’t have to be a snowman.”
  7. waning
    of the period when the visible surface of the moon decreases
    It was night, and a waning moon peeked out from behind scattered clouds.
  8. hijab
    a headscarf worn by Muslim women
    Fatima had put on a black long-sleeved dress and a pink flowery hijab that covered her head and shoulders.
  9. infidel
    a person who does not acknowledge your god
    Daesh thought they were fighting the final war of the apocalypse, and anyone who didn’t agree with their twisted perversion of Islam were infidels...
  10. radical
    markedly new or introducing extreme change
    Mahmoud and his family planned to stay as far away from Daesh as possible, but the radical fighters were coming farther and farther into Syria every day.
  11. yarmulke
    a skullcap worn by religious Jews, especially at prayer
    There weren’t the required ten men for the service — there were a hundred men, probably more, all wearing yarmulkes on their heads and white-and-black tallisim — prayer shawls — around their shoulders.
  12. throng
    a large gathering of people
    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.
  13. squalid
    foul and run-down and repulsive
    If he were a Turkish border guard, he wouldn’t have let in any of these dirty, squalid people, himself included.
  14. punctuate
    interrupt periodically
    After Aleppo — the near-constant gunfire and explosions, punctuated by the oppressive quiet of an entire city trying their hardest not to draw attention to themselves — this place felt alive, even if it was dusty and cramped.
  15. oppressive
    weighing heavily on the senses or spirit
    After Aleppo — the near-constant gunfire and explosions, punctuated by the oppressive quiet of an entire city trying their hardest not to draw attention to themselves — this place felt alive, even if it was dusty and cramped.
Created on Wed May 22 13:36:07 EDT 2019 (updated Tue Jun 17 13:38:00 EDT 2025)

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