Alan Gratz writes, “I have long been interested in Japan, but wasn’t inspired to write until I stumbled across a curious photograph in a travel guide. In the picture, a Japanese man wearing a kimono and sandals throws out the ceremonial first pitch for the 1915 National High School Baseball Summer Championship Tournament. 1915! I knew of Japan’s love affair with baseball, but I had always assumed the sport was imported by American GIs during the Allied occupation at the end of World War II.” From there came the spark of an idea that grew into this remarkable first novel. Alan lives with his wife and daughter in Georgia.
JOSEF is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world . . . ISABEL is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, s...[SEE MORE]