Author
Alan Gratz
5 books here
Resist
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 780L · 2025
Gratz's dual-timeline structure (multiple child perspectives across occupied territories) makes WWII resistance visceral and age-appropriate without sanitizing the stakes—kids understand what bravery costs.
Ground Zero
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 720L · 2021
A carefully wrought, age-appropriate entry point to 9/11 that treats both the tragedy and Islamophobia with the gravity they deserve—demanding but not traumatizing for mature 10-year-olds.
Heroes
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 720L · 2024
A genuinely moving WWII ensemble that refuses simplification—Gratz lets kids sit with moral complexity and multiple truths without false uplift.
Refugee
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 750L · 2017
A relentlessly intelligent, structurally brave book that treats refugee children as full protagonists, not victims—the interwoven timelines ask kids to recognize patterns across 80 years without preaching.
War Games
Middle grade · ages 9–12 · 760L · 2025
Gratz's dual perspective on Pearl Harbor and its aftermath is genuinely ambitious for middle grade — kids see the human cost of war on both sides and the homefront cruelty Japanese Americans faced.