Alan Gatz was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, home of the 1982 World's Fair. After a carefree but humid childhood, Alan attended the University of Tennessee, where he earned a College Scholars degree with a specialization in creative writing, and later, a Master's degree in English education.
In addition to writing plays, magazine articles, and a few episodes of A&E's City Confidential, Alan has taught catapult-building to middle-schoolers, written more than 6,000 radio commercials, sold other people's books, lectured at a Czech university, and traveled the galaxy as a space ranger. (One of these, it should be noted, is not true.) Alan is now a full-time writer living in Western North Carolina with his wife and daughter.
Alan's first novel, Samurai Shortstop, was named one of the ALA's 2007 Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults. His second novel, Something Rotten, was a 2008 ALA Quick Pick for Young Adult Readers, and a sequel, Something Wicked, hit shelves in October 2008. His first true middle grade novel, The Brooklyn Nine, debuted in March 2009, just in time for baseball season. His short fiction has appeared in Knoxville's Metropulse magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and the middle grade anthology Half-Minute Horrors.
Selected Reviews of Alan Gratz's Books
The Brooklyn Nine: A Novel in Nine Innings
Alan Gratz
As the subtitle states this is a novel in nine innings. We begin with Felix, a young German immigrant, who is so fast that he can take breaks from his messenger job to watch the New York Knickerbockers play an early version of baseball called Three-Out, All Out. He dreams of one day playing for the team. After being severely injured during a fire, Felix can no longer run and his dreams of baseball are fading. But with the near-ruined leather from his shoes, he sews a baseball, and vows that baseball will be a part of his life somehow. We then trace the baseball, and his family's passion for baseball, through history. Each inning is about a different person and each one is better than the last. History and baseball and family and racial prejudice and immigration and con artists and the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn--this book's got a little of everything. For sports readers who enjoy Dan Gutman and Mike Lupica, here's an engrossing new novel that brings America's favorite pastime to life in a totally new way. Recommended. 2009, Dial Press (Penguin Young Readers Group), 272pp., $16.99 hc. Ages 9 to 12.
Samurai Shortstop
Alan Gratz
"Toyo watched carefully as his uncle prepared to kill himself." From an opening sentence that commands full attention, readers are plunged into a story of cultural change, peer pressure, a faltering father-son relationship, and baseball. In 1890 Japan was in the Meiji Restoration period, transitioning from a feudal society to an industrial nation. Samurai struggled to find a place within this rapidly evolving culture. Fifteen-year-old Toyo is from a family of samurai, and he is both honored and horrified to watch his Uncle Koji commit seppuku. Permission for this ritual suicide has been granted by the emperor for Koji's participation in a samurai uprising, as an honorable alternative to execution. Toyo fears his father's seppuku will be next, and that anxiety is compounded by his entry into a prestigious boarding school, where violent hazing is a tradition endured by all first-year students. Toyo's love of (and skill for) the emerging sport of baseball helps sustain him during this difficult time. Compelling sports scenes are deftly balanced with Toyo's school and family life, combining into a finely crafted historical novel. A welcome note at the conclusion provides additional insight into the evolution of baseball in Japan, as well as the author's choices in writing a historical novel that will resonate with contemporary teens. CCBC Category: Fiction for Young Adults. 2006, Dial, 280 pages, $17.99. Ages 13-16.
Something Wicked
Alan Gratz
In this new take on Macbeth, clever, sardonic teenage detective Horatio, who we first met in Something Rotten, attends a Scottish Highland Festival on Birnam Mountain in Tennessee and finds the mountain's owner, Duncan MacRae, murdered in his tent. Duncan's son Mal looks like the obvious suspect, but Horatio has his doubts. For one thing, Horatio's ambitious friend Mac and Mac's controlling girlfriend, Beth, have fathers who want to turn the mountain into a country club and ski resort. There's also a fetching girl Horatio has his eyes on, and a gang of punks who call themselves Hell's Pipers. There's even a dog--named Spot. Replete with cell phones and up-to-date references (Dance Dance Revolution, Michael Vicks), this suspenseful mystery will work even for those unfamiliar with the Shakespeare play, and humor abounds as well. Fans of Horatio will be pleased to learn he has six sisters, with names like Viola and Juliet, so look out for more witty Shakespearean take-offs to come. (A Horatio Wilkes Mystery) Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: S--Recommended for senior high school students. 2008, Penguin, Dial, 272p., $16.99. Ages 15 to 18. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick (KLIATT Review, September 2008 (Vol. 42, No. 5)).
Alan is a former middle school, high school, and university instructor who knows how to keep things relevant and interesting in the classroom. On average, he speaks to about 30 schools and conferences around the country each year. School visits may include any combination of school assemblies (45-60 minutes), classroom/library presentations (45-60 minutes), and writing workshops (45-60 minutes). Alan also enjoys doing shorter, less formal events with kids, like pizza lunches with students who've read his books, interviews with school newspapers, and book signings. Once he's at your school, he wants to meet as many kids as he can!
- Suggested audience: Grades 3-12
- Full day fee: $750 plus travel & hotel
To learn more about Alan Gratz and his publications please visit www.alangratz.com.
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