Q 01/05

Before he turned to writing, what did Refugee author Alan Gratz jokingly say he first dreamed of becoming?

A) A Jedi master

B) A secret agent

C) A comic book hero

D) A big league pitcher

Answer · why

A) A Jedi master

A Jedi master was the original plan, he says, but he could not master the Force. He settled for writing stories and newspaper articles all through mid...

Q 02/05

Which food does Alan Gratz compare to breathing air when fans ask what his favorite thing to eat is?

A) Tacos

B) Sushi

C) Pizza

D) Burgers

Answer · why

C) Pizza

Pizza is so plainly his favorite, he says, that naming it is like naming air as his favorite thing to breathe. His official bio even lists eating it a...

Q 03/05

Which cartoon character did Alan Gratz build as a sixteen-foot costume, so big it needed a rented van?

A) Snorlax

B) Totoro

C) Shrek

D) Baymax

Answer · why

B) Totoro

Totoro towered over the 2012 DragonCon Masquerade in Atlanta and won Best Cartoon Characters, with Gratz's daughter Jo on stage beside him as Satsuki.

Q 04/05

Which real ship, turned away from Cuba in 1939, carries Josef's family in Alan Gratz's novel Refugee?

A) SS Exodus

B) MS St. Louis

C) RMS Lusitania

D) SS Struma

Answer · why

B) MS St. Louis

MS St. Louis is where the whole novel began: Gratz noticed that books, films and even an opera had told its story, but nothing had been written about ...

Q 05/05

In Alan Gratz's Refugee, which instrument does Isabel trade for gasoline so her family's boat can leave Cuba?

A) Violin

B) Guitar

C) Clarinet

D) Trumpet

Answer · why

D) Trumpet

Trumpet for fuel is the deal that gets the engine started, and at the end of the novel her great-uncle Guillermo gives her a new one.