For Alan Gratz, bestselling author of 20 novels for young readers, 2025 will be an especially busy year. On March 4, Scholastic published the first print edition of Resist: A Story of D-Day, a novella he wrote to tie into his 2019 novel Allies, previously available only in ebook and audio book formats.

And two additional books by Gratz, whose covers are seen here for the first time, are due from Scholastic on October 7: War Games, a novel set during the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin; and Refugee: The Graphic Novel, an adaptation of his 2017 novel about three young refugees from different countries and eras, which spent five years on the New York Times bestseller list.

War Games centers on 13-year-old Evie, an American gymnast competing in the Olympics in Berlin, a city under Nazi rule, where a mysterious criminal mastermind recruits the girl to participate in an ambitious jewel heist.

Like many of Gratz’s previous books, War Games meshes fact and fiction—and features a protagonist who takes a stand in a high-stakes situation. Multiple factors inspired the novel’s premise. “To begin with, I love the Olympics, and the 1936 Olympics were legendary for so many reasons,” the author told PW. “Jesse Owens made history by winning four gold medals, the inaugural Olympic torch relay took place, the Games were televised for the first time—and Hitler was in the stands. Evie’s eyes are opened to the awful things going on behind the scenes in Nazi Germany, which are being camouflaged by the Olympics, and she is determined to do something about it, whether that means using her talents to win gold—or robbing a German bank.”

Aimee Friedman, editorial director of Scholastic, who has been Gratz’s editor since 2012, noted that War Games taps into the author’s “unique talent when it comes to writing about historic events and important social themes in ways that are accessible and appealing to young readers. At the core of War Games, and all of Alan’s books, are empowered, fully fleshed-out young characters who are agents of their own destiny in the midst of historic upheaval. And that speaks to kids today.”

Chris Stengel, art director of the Scholastic trade fiction design team and the designer of War Games, described the steps involved in creating the novel’s cover, which features art created by hitandrun media.

“The collaboration process for a project like this is quite involved, especially when dealing with an historic event like the Berlin Olympics,” Stengel said. “We used several powerful photos from that era as reference, among them a particularly striking picture of the Brandenburg Gate. We wanted to feature the Olympic and Nazi flags in the distance along with marching soldiers to reflect their overwhelming presence during the games. And showing our defiant central protagonist as she is confronted with this massive obstacle—while evoking a sense of strength—was very important to the piece.”

Bringing a Bestseller to Graphic Life

Refugee: The Graphic Novel marks Gratz’s first experience adapting one of his novels to graphic format. The book chronicles the stories of three children who endure harrowing journeys when their families flee the violence and destruction in their homelands: Josef, a Jewish boy in 1930s Nazi Germany; Isabel, a Cuban girl in 1994; and Mahmoud, a Syrian boy in 2015.

“Though I had a framework to pull from,” Gratz said of adapting Refugee, “it was challenging, but a lot of fun, to decide what are the most cinematic moments from the novel to include. The biggest challenge was making sure that every scene supports what is for me the heart of the novel’s message—that we cannot continue to make the same mistakes that have been made in the past.”

Gratz and the Scholastic Graphix team then set out on a journey to find the ideal illustrator for the project. “It was very important to hire an artist whose life experience was somehow connected to one of the three characters, so we cast our net wide to find someone who could bring a personal element to the art in a way that I couldn’t in the script,” he said.

Syd Fini, who was born in Iran during the Iran-Iraq war and began his career as a storyboard artist for feature films, fit that bill. Now living in Brooklyn, Fini directs animations and creates graphic novels.

“We landed with the right person,” Gratz said of Fini. “I’m so amazed by his art and so excited about what he did with my script—his characters are realistic and stylized in a way that gives the art a verisimilitude that kids respond to.”

The design of Refugee: The Graphic Novel and its cover was directed by Phil Falco, VP and creative director of Scholastic Graphix, and senior designer Carina Taylor. Taylor designed the book and managed the creative team of Fini, colorist Neda Kazemifar, and letterer Warren Montgomery; Falco offered guidance throughout the process.

After considering various options for the cover image, the team ultimately drew inspiration from the original prose novel art, refreshing the concept for the graphic novel.

“The characters in the story are in peril and this cover succinctly captures that sense of danger without referencing a specific scene or moment from the story,” Falco said. “The cover grabs the reader’s attention by conveying the right balance of detail with its design, leaving kids wanting to pick up the book and connect with the story.”

Addressing the intentionally vague aspects of the cover, Taylor added, “The figure in the boat can represent any child who may end up a refugee through geopolitical powers outside their control. The hope of Alan’s story is to empower children to learn about how these systems of oppression can reach across time, and to build empathy within their own lives. The cover also captures the idea that while the waters may be rough now, there is hope for a better future.”

That theme—central to both War Games and Refugee: The Graphic Novel—is the crux of Gratz’s creative ethos. “I always gravitate toward stories with a survival element that gives young people a great deal of agency,” he said. “I want kids to believe that they can make an impact and affect the world through their actions and their voices. It is up to them to do whatever needs to be done to save the day and turn the tide of events—to be the person to change the course of history.”

War Games by Alan Gratz. Scholastic Press, $18.99 Oct. 7 ISBN 978-1-338-736106.

Refugee: The Graphic Novel by Alan Gratz, illus. by Syd Fini. Scholastic Graphix, $24.99 Oct. 7 ISBN 978-1-338-733976; $14.99 paper ISBN 978-1-338-733969.