- Free copy of Allies to first 100 families
- Presentation and Q+A by Alan Gratz
- Meet the author, book sale, signing
- Bus scholarships available for student groups, contact info@inprinthouston.org
- Order a copy of Allies from Blue Willow Bookshop and pick it up at the event
- Free and open to the public
- Representatives from The Holocaust Museum Houston will be sharing information about their library and upcoming exhibitions
The 2019/2020 Inprint Cool Brains! Reading Series proudly presents New York Times bestselling middle-grade author of Refugee, Alan Gratz, reading from his new novel Allies.
Set in a single day during World War II, Allies has been called “both an excellent, inclusive narration of important historical events and a fast-paced, entertaining read” by Kirkus Reviews, and a “tautly paced and multifaceted portrait of the D-Day invasion” by Publishers Weekly.
Gratz is the author of several books for young readers, including Grenade, Refugee, and Projekt 1065. His first novel Samurai Shortstop appeared in the 2007 American Library Association’s Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults, and Prisoner B-3087, his middle-grade holocaust novel, was a Junior Library Guild selection that has won 8 state awards and been named to YALSA’s 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults list. His 2017 novel Refugee has received many awards and was named a Global Read Aloud Book for 2018. It has spent more than a year on the New York Times bestseller list.
In 2010, as the American School in Japan’s first Artist-in-Residence, Alan spent six weeks teaching historical fiction-writing to middle-school students in Tokyo. The following year he was the Thurber House Children’s Writer-in-Residence, living and writing in The New Yorker cartoonist James Thurber’s attic for a month while working with young writers from all around the Columbus, Ohio area.
Born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, Alan earned a College Scholars degree in creative writing and a Master’s degree in education at the University of Tennessee. By the 5th grade he had produced a newspaper, Blue Spring Lane News, and written his first book, titled Real Kids Don’t Eat Spinach, and had he not been a writer his dream job would have been gameshow host. He currently resides with wife Wendi and daughter Jo in Asheville, North Carolina where he enjoys spending his time reading, playing board and video games, and researching and outlining his future projects.
*Please note that the book signing will be conducted on a first-come, first-served basis. Upon entering the theater, people wishing to have books signed will be given a number, and the book signing will take place in numerical order after the on-stage presentation.
Interesting Facts
- 2016 Tour of his writing office
- His dream job outside of writing is gameshow host
- He loves board games and video games; collects action figures and other toys
- Favorite baseball teams: Los Angeles Dodgers, Hiroshima Corp, Asheville Tourists
- He produced a newspaper in grade school titled Blue Spring Lane News
- He wrote his first book by 5th grade called Real Kids Don’t Eat Spinach
To learn more about Alan Gratz, click here.
