Alan Gratz wrote this text on his website (www.alangratz.com) in response to a question about where he got the idea for Refugee:
I was in the middle of figuring out who my main character would be and what the story would be when my family and I went on a vacation to the Florida Keys. One morning we got up to walk on the beach, and we found a raft refugees had taken to come to the United States. No one was on board, and I still don’t know where it came from, but my best guess is that it came from Cuba. It made me think—why was I writing a book about Jewish refugees seventy-five years ago, when there were refugees right here, right now, I could be writing about?
And of course at the same time, I was seeing images on the news and on the Internet about the Syrian Civil War, and the millions of Syrian refugees looking for some place of safety. I couldn’t decide—which book should I write? They are all important stories! And then I realized—why do I have to write three books? What if I just wrote one book, and combined all three stories? And that’s how Refugee was born.
Read the information about Alan Gratz. Which statement about Gratz is most likely true?
Gratz doubted that the past affected the present, until he wrote this book.
Gratz wonders whether his readers would be interested in a story about refugees.
Gratz worries that some refugees will never overcome their struggles.
Gratz believes that refugees with different backgrounds share important experiences.