"Josef! Ruth!" Mama cried when she them. She lunged for her children, but one of the Nazis grabbed her nightgown and pulled her back.

What does lunged mean?

"Aaron Landau," one of the Brownshirts said to Josef's father, "you have continued to practice law despite the fact that Jews are forbidden to do so under the Civil Restoration Act of 1933. For this crime against the German people, you will be taken into protective custody."

What does custody mean?

Ruth wrapped herself around Josef's leg and wailed. "Don't take him! Don't take him!" The Brownshirt scowled at the noise and gave the men carrying Aaron Landau a dismissive wave. Josef watched as they dragged Papa away to the sounds of Mama's sobs and Ruth's wails.

What does dismissive mean?

Isabel was listening for the clave underneath the music, the mysterious hidden beat inside Cuban music that everybody seemed to hear except her.

What does clave mean?

Mahmoud and Waleed could disappear among the heaps of twisted metal and broken cement, and there were no walls to fall on them if an artillery shell went whizzing overhead.

What does artillery mean?

On the train, Josef and his family sat in a compartment labeled J, for Jew, so no "real" Germans would sit there by accident.

What does compartment mean?

Josef felt the heat of that embarrassment all over again, the humiliation of being talked about like he was an animal. A specimen. Something subhuman.

What does humiliation mean?

Josef was about to leave when he thought to buy Ruthie a piece of candy. Money had been tight since their father lost his job, and she would enjoy the treat. Josef took a hard candy from a jar and fished in his pocket for another pfennig.

What does pfennig mean?

The policeman raised his truncheon to hit her father again, and Isabel jumped in between them. "No! Don't! Please!" she cried.

What does truncheon mean?

A steep ramp ran to the top of the tall black hull, and hundreds of people were already on board, milling around under colorful fluttering pennants and waving to friends and family down on the docks.

What does milling mean?

The ship was called the MS St. Louis. St. Louis was the name of a city in America, Josef had learned. That seemed like a good omen to him. A sign that they would eventually get to America. Maybe one day visit the real St. Louis.

What does omen mean?

"Josef! Ruth! My darlings!" He kissed the tops of their heads again and again, then jumped back. He looked around manically, like there were spies everywhere. "We have to go. We can't stay here. We have to get on board before they stop us."

What does manically mean?

He treated them like real passengers. Like real people. And he wasn't the only one. Every sailor they met doffed his cap at them, and the steward who showed them to their cabin assured them that they could call upon him for anything they needed while on board. Anything at all.

What does doffed mean?

"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."

What does inhumane mean?

"Well, if it isn't Hurricane Isabel," Senor Castillo said. He had white hair that he wore swept back on his head, and even though there was no food, he had a middle-aged paunch to his belly.

What does paunch mean?

"You're on CNN," a woman said in Spanish, her face nothing but a silhouette against the light. "Can you tell us what made you decide to leave?"

What does silhouette mean?

Isabel's father pitched across the roiling boat and grabbed Senor Castillo by the shirt.

What does roiling mean?

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 who should have their heads cut off.

What does infidels mean?

Mahmoud sank to the floor of the old Mercedes station wagon and tried to disappear. In the seat beside him, Waleed sat up straight next to his open window, unmoving and unfazed. "Everybody stay calm," Dad said, slowing the car down, "and let me do all the talking."

What does unfazed mean?

What would once have been a happy occasion in the Landau home was now fraught with anxiety, thanks to his father's paranoia.

What does paranoia mean?

The EU, Mahmoud knew, was the European Union. He also knew they were much more strict about letting people in than Turkey was. Once you were in one of the EU countries, though, like Greece or Hungary or Germany, you could apply for asylum and be granted official refugee status.

What does asylum mean?

One of the men got up from the table, a scowl on his face. He was a thickset man, with a bulbous nose, bulldog cheeks, and dark, heavy eyebrows.

What does bulbous mean?

Ahead of Isabel, her mother and Senora Castillo slept against each other on the narrow bench at the front of the boat, where the prow came to a point. Lito sat on the middle bench, right above Isabel and Ivan.

What does prow mean?

"Then you would have been born in el norte!" Ivan told Isabel. She paused in her scooping, thinking how different her life might be right now. Born in the United States! It was almost inconceivable.

What does inconceivable mean?

"We should go back," Lito said. He wobbled to his feet. "We're not too far gone, and with Castro being so lenient right now, we won't be punished for leaving."

The tanker emerged from the darkness like some giant leviathan come to swallow them. It stood at least seven stories tall out of the water and was so wide it filled the horizon. Its pointed bow sent huge waves sluicing away, and two massive anchors stood out from the sides like the horns on a monster.

What does leviathan mean?

They had missed the huge ship's prow by mere meters, but the waves the behemoth created as it passed were just as dangerous. The ocean heaved and sank, the little boat tipping over sideways as the waves caught it amidships.

What does amidships mean?

His father was inconsolable. The things he said he saw--Josef couldn't even imagine. His father had only survived by staying quiet. By not drawing attention to himself. But now he was going to get them sent away. Suddenly, Josef saw what he had to do. He slapped his father across the face. Hard.

What does inconsolable mean?

The boat wasn't a boat. It was a raft. A black inflatable rubber dinghy with an outboard motor on the back. It looked like there was room for a dozen people in it.

What does dinghy mean?

Mahmoud had been so tired he could barely keep his eyes open before, but not the thrum of the motor and the chop of the boat as it hit wave after wave flooded him with adrenaline, and he couldn't have slept if he'd wanted to.

What does adrenaline mean?

The firemen were big, churlish brutes who were supposed to be on board to put out fires. But lately they'd been walking the decks, harassing the Jewish passengers.

What does churlish mean?