Refugee: List 4

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 121–170 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 5067 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. whim
    an odd or fanciful or capricious idea
    On a whim, Mahmoud darted out into the car’s headlights and waved the life jackets on his arms.
  2. curt
    brief and to the point
    He gave a curt order to the ship’s doctor to assemble the passengers in the social hall and then marched away.
  3. tentatively
    in a hesitant manner
    “It’s not going to be like that, dear heart,” Mama said. She reached out to him, tentatively, gently, and he didn’t flinch under her hand.
  4. inconsolable
    sad beyond comforting
    His father was inconsolable.
  5. sham
    something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be
    “Well, that was a sham,” said the man standing in line next to him.
  6. roil
    be agitated
    It was pitch-black all around her, and the ocean was alive. Not alive with fish — alive like the ocean was a living creature itself. It churned and roiled and roared with bubbles and foam.
  7. tedious
    so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
    “The water first,” Lito agreed, and together they gathered up bottles and jugs and began the tedious work of filling them and pouring the seawater back into the ocean.
  8. churlish
    having a bad disposition; surly
    A strong hand grabbed Josef by the arm and swung him around. It was a sailor, one of the ship’s firemen, and Josef knew right away he was in trouble. The firemen were big, churlish brutes who were supposed to be on board to put out fires.
  9. berate
    censure severely or angrily
    The passengers on the St. Louis had grown more and more restless, cornering sailors on deck and berating their stewards at dinner.
  10. stifling
    characterized by oppressive heat and humidity
    Papa lay on a bed in his underclothes, trying to stay cool in the stifling heat.
  11. capsize
    overturn accidentally
    The only ones not bailing were Señor Castillo, who looked like a ghost, and Amara, who clung to the rudder with white-knuckled hands and tried to keep the boat turned into the churning waves so it wouldn’t capsize.
  12. refrain
    part of a song or poem that recurs at regular intervals
    But what was the refrain? And how many more verses would there be before they got to the climax of the song, that brash moment at the end of a son cubano that echoed the refrain, and then the coda, those brief few notes that tied it all together?
  13. relentless
    never-ceasing
    Hana was crying — she was alive! — but it was all Mahmoud’s mother could do to keep the baby and her own face above the relentless waves.
  14. respite
    a pause from doing something
    He wished for a respite from swimming, just a moment to sit without working his arms and legs.
  15. draught
    a dose of liquid medicine
    “Josef,” Mama said, low enough for just him to hear her, “I’m going to go to the ship’s doctor for a sleeping draught for your father. Something to calm him. I’ll take Ruthie to the pool, but I need you to stay here and watch your father.”
Created on Wed May 22 13:37:25 EDT 2019 (updated Tue Jun 17 14:09:05 EDT 2025)

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