Alan Gratz Books

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Alan Gratz is an American author that writes stories for young readers. He was born in 1972 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Gratz attended Webb School (Knoxville) and the University of Tennessee. He looks at his career as a full-time job, despite what some people think.

He goes to his office, where he spends hours researching, making outlines, and writing his manuscripts. He did not enter the publishing field immediately. Before writing novels, Gratz was an 8th Grade English teacher. If he hadn’t succeeded as a writer, he would have gone back to teaching.

Unlike some of his peers, Gratz wasn’t one of those children that spent every minute reading. He read books, but he wasn’t particularly obsessive about the activity. The author was more interested in building forts and playing video games.

Whenever he sat down to read, Gratz favored the classics, such as ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ by Jules Verne and Ellen Raskin’s ‘The Westing Game.’ If the author could go back in time, he would make more of an effort to read.

As an adult, he feels like he has so many great books he hasn’t yet read. While he did not read a lot as a child, Gratz did quite a bit of writing. He produced a newspaper for his street when he was in grade school.

By 5th Grade, the author had written his first book, titled ‘Real Kids Don’t Eat Spinach.’ He contributed articles and stories to newspapers in middle school and high school.

It was clear that he was born to write. As a published author, he encourages aspiring writers to pay close attention to the people around them. He wants them to listen to the way people talk, especially if they struggle to produce organic dialog.

Additionally, they should read and then imitate their favorite writers. He doesn’t expect anyone to plagiarize a famous author’s work. Instead, they should learn to mimic the style of their favorite authors. Though, from what he has seen, none of these lessons matter unless aspiring authors have the strength of will to sit down and write.

This is what Gratz does. He doesn’t have any specific source of inspiration. His ideas come from mundane things like the conversations he overhears at the grocery store while waiting in line, the articles he reads in magazines, the stories he encounters on the internet, etc.

Gratz keeps a book on hand that he fills with ideas for stories, characters, quotes, and pieces of dialog. Once he has a solid idea, he does the necessary research.

Once he has a clear picture of the story he wants to tell, the author develops a chapter outline. If he’s writing a chapter or two a day, it can take him a month to write the first draft. And then, the long process of revising and editing starts.

Alan Gratz Awards

Gratz has won Sydney Taylor Book, Charlotte Huck, Cybils Middle-Grade Fiction, and National Jewish Book Awards. He has also won over a dozen state awards.

Best Alan Gratz Books

The author’s hobbies include board games, role-playing games, and video games. Besides building things such as woodsheds, he collects action figures. Gratz’s best books include:

Refugee: This book tells the stories of three young people and the unimaginable dangers they will face on their harrowing journeys. Josef is Jewish. Because he had the misfortune of growing up in 1930s Germany, he has to board a ship to escape the threat of the concentration camps.

Isabel was living in Cuba in 1994 when riots threw her country into turmoil. She hopes to find sanctuary in America.

2015 finds Mahmoud in Syria. As violence rips his homeland apart, the boy and his family must undertake a long and arduous journey to Europe.

Prisoner B 3087: Yanek was just a boy when the Nazis caught him and branded him. He lost everything he held dear. Now, the concentration camps are all he knows. As the Second World War rages, Yanek jumps from concentration camp to concentration camp, navigating new horrors.

He learns to take comfort in the glimpses of hope he comes across. But the dangers are relentless. Death follows Yanek wherever he goes. It is only a matter of time before it claims him.

When Does The Next Alan Gratz book come out?

Alan Gratz doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Heroes of Pearl Harbor and was released on February, 6th 2024.

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