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Speaker 1: Alan Gratz, how are you doing today, sir?

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Speaker 2: I'm doing great. It's good to hear your voice.

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Speaker 1: Dude. I got to tell you something, I am you

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have no idea. How proud I am of you writing

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these stories in so many different ways. Because my father

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fought in World War Two, I know nothing of that

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period because he spoke nothing of it. So therefore I've

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had to rely on history books and you know, and

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you know, straightforwardness and journalism and blah blah blah. And

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then you give us these stories like war games and

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and and you know. And the thing is is that

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all of a sudden, you put my mindset in a

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time period. It's like when I sat down with the

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sex Pistols and they told me you have no idea

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what it was like to be here in World War Two.

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It's still haunting me. And so I mean so right away.

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I mean, but that's what you're doing, Alan, is you're

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putting us back into a place that took place. And

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it's nothing to do with journalism. Is let me share

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a story with you.

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Speaker 2: Thanks. I appreciate that. That's what I'm trying to do

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is to get kids reading and get them turning the

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pages and then get my history and my point across.

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But I'm trying to write a story they can't put down. First,

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That's the big thing.

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Speaker 1: How do you combine and what is what is your

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continuity when it comes to this thing, you know, combining

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real history with a storyline. That's got to be like

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putting pieces together like a puzzle, and it's got to

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be a great brain game.

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Speaker 2: I love it, I really do, and I do often

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talk about it like doing a jigsaw puzzle. So the

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first thing I do is I do a ton of research,

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and I'm looking at that time or that event that

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I'm writing about, and I'm looking for the pieces that

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I think will make the best scenes for a story, right,

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Like what are going to be like think about scenes

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in a movie like this sequence and then that sequence

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and that sequence. And I'm trying to think about those

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sequences that will keep kids tuned in, like what they

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will really be fascinated by, and then a way to

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link those. And while I'm doing all of this, I'm

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also thinking about who my character needs to be, Like

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is it going to be a boy, is it going

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to be a girl? Is it going to be a

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person who is caught in between? This is it a

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person who is thrust into it by accident, you know, like,

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how did they come into this situation? What is their goal?

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Like what is their personal goal? Because of course kids

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aren't there to like when the day right. I mean

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they're there to like survive because they got caught up

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in the middle of it. But what were they trying

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to do when the event happened? When the event hit?

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So I start with all that history. Then I take

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those puzzle pieces and I try to build a character

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and start to fit all that in there together of

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the fictional story of my kid and their life with

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the real life events of what's going on in history.

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I think it's a ton of fun and actually the

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outlining phase is one of my favorite parts of it.

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Speaker 1: Wow. So I've got to ask you this question only

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because I have talked about this so many times on

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the radio over the years. Now for you to be

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connected to these stories in Verlin, because when you've got

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something as what feels very authentic to me with Evi Harris,

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I mean, he's only thirteen years old, he's in Berlin.

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The year is nineteen thirty six. With the Olympics. Sure,

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we've seen the sports reels blah blah blah. But what

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you do is you give us a picture of evy.

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I often wonder, though, when you're able to go back

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there with that true passion to not only write but storytell.

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Are you sure you're not reincarnated and you're bringing your

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personal experiences from that area up here in the four

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Because I believe in that. I believe in speaking to

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the future.

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Speaker 2: Sir, well, I don't know if I feel like I'm

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the reincarnated the soul of the characters, but I do

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try to put a little of myself into my characters,

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So I appreciate that, Like, maybe that's what you're sensing.

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And every one of my characters that I build, none

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of them are me, Like I don't ever write myself

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into a story, for example, but every time I write

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a story, I am trying to put a little of

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myself into the characters. So like, for example, with Refugee,

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the graphic novel that I've got coming out right now,

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based on the book that came out in twenty seventeen,

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the original book, there's three main characters in that, and

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all three of them have a little bit of me

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and them Joseph in the first story is a kid

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who wants to grow up. He wants to be treated

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like an adult and be taken seriously, and that's the

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way I felt when I was a kid. Put that

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into there. He also wants to be a writer, which

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was a little bit of me. And then with Isabelle,

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she is afraid her family is going to split up.

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She's afraid her parents are going to break up. And

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my parents argued a lot when I was a kid,

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and I had friends whose parents got divorced, and I

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was really afraid that my parents are going to split up,

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and so I put that fear in her as well.

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And then with the final character in that book, Mahmud,

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he is a victim of bullying, and I was too.

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I was often the smallest kid in my class at

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elementary school, and I wish sometimes I could just disappear

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and turn invisible. And he can't literally turn invisible, it's

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not a fantasy story, but he'll pull his hoodie up

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and kind of fade into the background and try to

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not be noticed. And I put a little bit of

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that of me in there, too, of wanting to just

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kind of disappear and not be noticed. So every time

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I write a character. I'm thinking, like, what's a part

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of my own life that I could put into this

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care they help bring him or herd alive.

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Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Alan Gratz coming

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up next. He's currently promoting two books, War Games and Refugee,

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the Graphic Novel. We're back with Alan Gratz. So there's

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a couple of things I want to talk to you

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about when it comes to the Refugee Graphic Novel. First

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and foremost, before we get into Sid, I want to

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talk to you that because right here, in big bold letters,

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it says Scholastic that took me back to my elementary

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school days. You know, it's book covers like this, the

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book cover, this is what would have took me to

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this book. And so you guys put a lot of

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psychological something in it for me to go, Holy crap,

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I am now seven years old again. This guy just

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put me back into where I was as a child.

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And I would read this book because of artists like

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you like Sid, as well as the author inside of

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you as well.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I love writing for Scholastic like you. I had

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Scholastic book bearers at high school when I was a kid, right,

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and it's very it's very nostalgic for me. And every

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time I see a book with my name on it

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and the Scholastic logo, I'm taken back to being a

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kid all over again. And so it's awesome. I mean,

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Sclassic has been around for like one hundred years, so

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they've been doing this school fair thing for a long time,

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longer than me and you, right, And so it's incredibly

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nostalgic for people. And then they do a great job

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of putting covers on the books. Like you said, the

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covers on my books are amazing. They're like black and

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white and red, and they often have a kid on

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the cover who's facing away from us, but like in

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danger or trouble. And it's exactly the kind of book

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I would have picked up when I was a kid

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going to the school book fair. So that's the kind

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of book I'm trying to write. That's the kind of

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cover they're putting on it. I love that whole package,

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and hopefully a lot of kids will pick it up.

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Speaker 1: Well you know why they're going to pick it up

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in the read and I'm not going to bring up

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anything political, but they can look at this picture of

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war games. I mean, they can see what's going on here,

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and it's already on their social media. They're seeing this

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already somewhere in the world and even in this nation,

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and you see, and they're going to be seeking and

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searching for something, and they're going to pick up a

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book just like wargames and they're going to say, this

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is mine. I'm going to be able to relate with it.

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And I'm going to, you know, even though this is

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nineteen thirty six, it's going to I'm going to compare

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my own life like you, slipping yourself in there as

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the author and stuff.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do every time. Look,

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I know that every book I write won't hit the

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same way with every kid, but there's going to be

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some kid out there who's like, has questions about what's

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happening in the world right now, and hopefully this book

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will answer those questions. There's some kid out there who

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has questions about climate change and is going to pick

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up my book Two Degrees and it's going to answer

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some of those, or about terrorism and pick up Ground

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Zero and get some answers about that. But basically, I

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just want these kids to know I see you, I

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know you have questions about the world. I don't have

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all the answers. I wish I did, but I don't

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have all the answers. But I see you, and let's

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talk about it together and see what we can figure out.

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Speaker 1: God, you said something here that totally blows me away,

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and I can so relay with it. I see you

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because for thirty six years I've been in the radio.

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I was in the radio industry, and then, for some

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stink and reason, maybe because I really craved authentic people,

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I went and got a job at a grocery store

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because I got to see them. Because in this room,

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I'm envisioning the listener, but they're not here. But if

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I go to that grocery store, I see you. I

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live that. I mean Alan, those are words that I

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live by.

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Speaker 2: Right, And I still love to visit schools and see

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kids like I'm writing for kids. That it would be

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super easy to just sit in my house and sit

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at my computer and write books and never see the

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kids who are reading my books. But once my books

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come out, I love hitting the road and visiting schools

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and talking to young people and seeing them hearing them. Right,

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It's so essential.

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Speaker 1: Like you said, don't you love it though. When you

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walk into a school, this is one of my favorite things,

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and there's always one or two of them that have

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a pencil and a notebook and you're going, oh, that's

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the one I'm talking to.

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Speaker 2: That's the one that kid, Like that kid was me,

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Like I was that kid back in the day, and

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I was thinking, like I'm taking notes. I want to

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be a writer. I'm going to plan for this, like

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I know, like again, not every kid in that audience

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is going to grow up to be a writer, but

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there's somebody out there who is. And so there's always

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not only am I talking to the larger group about

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the big the big issues, the big historical stuff, but

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I know there's somebody out there in that audience who

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also wants to be a storyteller, and I'm speaking to

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them too.

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Speaker 1: God, ten minutes with you is not enough, Allen. You

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got to come back to this dang show because if

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I go longer than this, that's going to screw everything

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up there. You know that's already been planningful today. You

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got to come back because I love where your heart is.

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I love where you're going as a writer, and I

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know there are young readers out there, and even adult

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readers that are going to pick this up. They're going

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to say, I want to write now, I want to write.

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Speaker 2: I love it, I hope.

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Speaker 1: So thank you, Ero, Will you be brilliant today? Okay, Alan,

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you too,