Alan M. Gratz
Author of Refugee
About the Author
Image credit: Photo by Wendi Gratz
Series
Works by Alan M. Gratz
Flight: A Story of Seeking Refuge 3 copies
Join or Die 2 copies
Captain America. The ghost army 2 copies
League of Seven 1 copy
PROIBITO LEGGERE 1 copy
Samura1 Shortstop 1 copy
Associated Works
Tomo: Friendship through Fiction: An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories (2012) — Contributor — 41 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Gratz, Alan M.
- Legal name
- Gratz, Alan Michael
- Birthdate
- 1972-01-27
- Gender
- male
- Education
- University of Tennessee (BA - Creative Writing, MS - English Education)
- Occupations
- young adult writer
- Organizations
- Authors Guild
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators - Awards and honors
- Best Books for Young Adults (Top Ten, 2007)
East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame - Agent
- Barry Goldblatt
- Short biography
- Alan Michael Gratz (born January 27, 1972) is the author of 16 novels for young adults including Prisoner B-3087, Code of Honor and Refugee.
Gratz was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. He holds a B.A. in Creative Writing and a Master's degree in English Education, both from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Gratz lives in Asheville, North Carolina.
I'm the author of a number of books for young readers, including Refugee,Ban This Book, Prisoner B-3087, Code of Honor, Projekt 1065, the League of Seven series, and The Brooklyn Nine. I live in the mountains of western North Carolina with my family, where I enjoy reading, playing games, and eating pizza. - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
- Places of residence
- Penland, North Carolina, USA
Portland, Oregon, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Oh wow, is this ever an important book for kids. Three refugees' stories are told in alternating, short, cliffhanging chapters: Josef, whose Jewish family was ordered to leave Germany in 1939; Isabel with her family and her neighbors fleeing Cuba in a makeshift boat in 1994; and Mahmoud and his family fleeing Syria over land and over sea in 2015. Mr. Gratz somehow finds a way to bring their stories together in the end. Nothing is sugar-coated here. This is an excellent book for readers 5th show more grade and up who may want to know more about refugees. The book does an excellent job of showing why desperate families may have no choice but a desperate escape, and that the refugees simply want to live, not to take anything away from anyone. The stories are based on real events, and the book includes maps and resources for kids who want to help. I am so thrilled this is a Colorado Children's Book Award nominee for 2020. show less
Great fun! A modern retelling of Hamlet, as a noir-ish murder mystery. (And with a happier ending.) Our narrator is high school senior Horatio Wilkes (and there are fun injokes about his name), who is visiting his best friend Hamilton Prince (get it, yuk yuk), a rich playboy whose father died two months ago and whose uncle Claude quickly married Hamilton's grieving mother. Hamilton's received a videotape of his dad before he died, saying he's been murdered (I love this modern way of having a show more "ghost" speak from the dead!) and wants Horatio to help him find out who killed his dad. There's also the Ophelia-equivalent character, Olivia, who is Hamilton's ex-girlfriend and who wants to stop the Prince family factory ("Elsinore" tee hee) from spewing more poisons into the river. I love Gratz's Samurai Shortstop, and this one was also excellent; I hope it's the start of a series (doesn't have to be Shakespearean, I loved the smart alecky main character and his pop culture references).
reviewed in 2008 show less
reviewed in 2008 show less
Ashy fourth-grader leads the revolt when censors decimate her North Carolina school’s library.
In a tale that is dominated but not overwhelmed by its agenda, Gratz takes Amy Anne, a young black bibliophile, from the devastating discovery that her beloved From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler has been removed from the library at the behest of Mrs. Spencer, a despised classmate’s mom, to a qualified defense of intellectual freedom at a school board meeting: “Nobody has the show more right to tell you what books you can and can’t read except your parents.” Meanwhile, as more books vanish, Amy Anne sets up a secret lending library of banned titles in her locker—a ploy that eventually gets her briefly suspended by the same unsympathetic principal who fires the school’s doctorate-holding white librarian for defiantly inviting Dav Pilkey in for an author visit. Characters frequently serve as mouthpieces for either side, sometimes deadly serious and other times tongue-in-cheek (“I don’t know about you guys, but ever since I read Wait Till Helen Comes, I’ve been thinking about worshipping Satan”). Indeed, Amy Anne’s narrative is positively laced with real titles that have been banned or challenged and further enticing teasers for them.
Contrived at some points, polemic at others, but a stout defense of the right to read. (discussion guide) (Fiction. 9-11)
-Kirkus Review show less
In a tale that is dominated but not overwhelmed by its agenda, Gratz takes Amy Anne, a young black bibliophile, from the devastating discovery that her beloved From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler has been removed from the library at the behest of Mrs. Spencer, a despised classmate’s mom, to a qualified defense of intellectual freedom at a school board meeting: “Nobody has the show more right to tell you what books you can and can’t read except your parents.” Meanwhile, as more books vanish, Amy Anne sets up a secret lending library of banned titles in her locker—a ploy that eventually gets her briefly suspended by the same unsympathetic principal who fires the school’s doctorate-holding white librarian for defiantly inviting Dav Pilkey in for an author visit. Characters frequently serve as mouthpieces for either side, sometimes deadly serious and other times tongue-in-cheek (“I don’t know about you guys, but ever since I read Wait Till Helen Comes, I’ve been thinking about worshipping Satan”). Indeed, Amy Anne’s narrative is positively laced with real titles that have been banned or challenged and further enticing teasers for them.
Contrived at some points, polemic at others, but a stout defense of the right to read. (discussion guide) (Fiction. 9-11)
-Kirkus Review show less
This is a fantastic read for older elementary to middle school aged children. As an adult, I highly enjoyed reading this book as well. Alan Gratz walks us through the trials and tribulations of students working to counteract the book banning process happening in their school library. When they create their own library, providing access to the banned literature, many students become interested in reading and the activism around their fight. These students ultimately end up speaking up to the show more school board, showing children the importance of standing up for what you believe in, and providing free, uncensored access to literature in a public setting. This book connects to topics such as challenged/banned literature in real life, activism, youth social engagement and community building. This book is a great tool for discussions in the classroom around social-justice movements in the local community. This book is inclusive, showing a young black girl as the main character, with a family that engages in their own dynamic journey to better support her and her friends in their mission. One quote that really spoke to me in this book was: “Every person should be free to read whatever they want, whenever they want, and not have to explain to anyone else why we like it, or why we think it’s valuable” (Alan Gratz). show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 45
- Also by
- 2
- Members
- 15,033
- Popularity
- #1,525
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 375
- ISBNs
- 294
- Languages
- 11
- Favorited
- 4
