Mahmoud eventually concludes that visibility is best: “See us….Hear us.

Each third-person narrative offers an accessible look at migration under duress, in which the behavior of familiar adults changes unpredictably, strangers exploit the vulnerabilities of transients, and circumstances seem driven by random luck. Each initially leaves by boat, struggles between visibility and invisibility, copes with repeated obstacles and heart-wrenching loss, and gains resilience in the process. Each traverses a landscape ruled by a dictator and must balance freedom, family, and responsibility. Yet these three refugee odysseys have so much in common. Three countries, three time periods, three brave protagonists. In the midst of political turmoil, how do you escape the only country that you’ve ever known and navigate a new life? Parallel stories of three different middle school–aged refugees-Josef from Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel from 1994 Cuba, and Mahmoud from 2015 Aleppo-eventually intertwine for maximum impact. Preface afterword bibliography b&w photos not seen. Touching and exciting, this close-up has immediacy and an authentic voice that bring history vividly to life. Daisy (15) is fictional, but Edith is based on Edith Irvine, who did record the earthquake's devastation. Three photos and a brief note in a 1990 National Geographic sparked the research that led to Gregory's third historical novel. Unable to reach City Hall, where they had hoped to find him, the girls join others camping in Golden Gate Park, sharing the deprivations and horrors amid aftershocks, explosions, and fires, and eventually return home: their ship has sunk in the harbor. While they search for him in the crowds and rubble during the next several days, Edith surreptitiously takes 60 photographs (an act forbidden by authorities hoping to conceal the extent of the damage). En route to a photographic exhibit in Paris and a trip on around the world, Edith and Daisy (the narrator) arrive in San Francisco just before the great earthquake of 1906 and are separated from Edith's father in the ensuing confusion.

Earthquake at Dawn by Kristiana Gregory