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Refugee by Alan Gratz, published in 2017

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Alan Gratz has written many books that have a very similar structure and craft to the book Grenade. Alan Gratz primarily writes in the genre of Historical Fiction. Refugee is a Historical fiction book that follows 3 protagonists. In Refugee, Alan Gratz describes the challenges of normal citizens dealing with conflicts that have been made by war in their country.  Gratz's style involves him making multiple characters and jumping around between their different point of view. Gratz also likes to make his characters eventually meet up or play somewhat of a role in his other characters' lives, which also happens in the book Grenade. Gratz has also written another book that takes place during WWII, and it also includes a boy that is scared, nice, and just wants to survive as a Jewish boy in Nazi Germany. Picture down below.

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Bees, Ellen. “Grenade.” The Teacher Bees Blog, 25 Aug. 2019, teacherbees.ca/grenade/.

“Battle of Okinawa: The National WWII Museum: New Orleans.” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans, 20 May 1970, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/battle-of-okinawa.

“Refugee.” Alan Gratz, 21 Mar. 2023, www.alangratz.com/writing/refugee/.

“Resistance.” Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/34739995. Accessed 19 May 2023.

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How does the character collide with the expectations of the era?

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How does the character collide with the expectations of the era?

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Importantly, Hideki sooner or later chooses to put down his weapon, take a chance, and conquer the brutality of conflict with the aid of rejecting the competitive motion. Hideki's journey is mainly powerful, as he struggles under the shadow of a cowardly ancestor. His eventual nonviolent picks permit him to demonstrate courage in a far extra effective way than picking up a gun. The story ends with some hope of a rebuilt day after today, while the Okinawan people are overwhelmingly devastated by using the battle. In Japanese culture said if you die in war it's honorable and if you surrender you are not honorable.

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Grenade, by Alan Gratz, tells the story of the invasion of Okinawa during World War II. The book features two characters' perspectives: Ray, a young American soldier, and Hideki, an Okinawan boy who has been drafted by the Japanese into the Iron and Blood Student Corps. In telling the story from both perspectives, similarities between the two characters are revealed and Gratz succeeds in humanizing both sides.

This book has a lot to say about the nature of war. Throughout the story, each side is portrayed as both humans and monsters. The message is clear that war turns men into monsters, even if they started out as regular farmers, fishermen, or plumbers. Importantly, Hideki eventually chooses to put down his weapon, take a risk, and overcome the brutality of war by rejecting aggressive action. Hideki's journey is particularly powerful, as he struggles under the shadow of a cowardly ancestor. His eventual peaceful choices allow him to demonstrate courage in a far more powerful way than picking up a gun. The story ends with some hope of a rebuilt tomorrow, even as the Okinawan people are overwhelmingly devastated by the war.

Grenade is an excellent historical fiction choice for middle years students who are looking for a war story, particularly a more graphic one. Gratz does not flinch from describing the devastation the conflict wrought on civilians of Okinawa or the heavy toll on soldiers of both sides. Violence in the book is ever present, although the author does avoid lingering too long on excessively disturbing description. In any case, it is difficult to imagine how this type of story could be told without demonstrating the violent stakes of war. As in his previous books, like Refugee, Gratz successfully humanizes the characters of this novel to illustrate how humanity can overcome conflict and work towards a more peaceful tomorrow.

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Grenade, by Alan Gratz, tells the story of the invasion of Okinawa during World War II. The book features two characters' perspectives: Ray, a young American soldier, and Hideki, an Okinawan boy who has been drafted by the Japanese into the Iron and Blood Student Corps. In telling the story

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Chaya is furious, and Esther keeps her distance from Chaya later on. Chaya arrives at the specified place to discover that her contact is Esther; under orders from the new leadership of Akiva, she and Chaya are first to journey to Lodz Ghetto and try and begin a resistance movement there. Chaya and Esther board a teach to Lodz however need to disembark while Esther’s phrases increase suspicion that they are Jewish; they preserve their adventure on foot and eventually attain Lodz. Chaya and Esther make their manner out of the ghetto, and Esther's well-known shows that the next part of the plan is to head to Warsaw, where the ghetto is preparing for a rebellion. Chaya manages to rescue Esther from the construction wherein the Gestapo had unsuccessfully tortured her for records; the women resume their journey, but Esther is significantly weakened. among them are Rubin, a member of Chaya and Esther’s Akiva mobile who joined the partisans after the Christmas assault. The partisans refuge Chaya and Esther for the night time, treat Esther’s injuries, and adequately deliver them to Warsaw. Esther and Chaya sneak into the ghetto and be part of the ZOB, the resistance prepared by Mordecai Anielewicz; here, Chaya also reunites with her brother, Yitzchak, who controlled to escape Podgorze simplest to be caught and dispatched to Warsaw.
It is similar to Grenade because both books talk about them being attacked and prosecuted by others and they both trying to find family. A difference is that there both in different places

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In this scene, Hideki hangs photos of people who died and hangs dozens of them every day and the last one he hangs is a photo of Ray. This scene is just like real life where every single year new photos are hung up of victims of the war as explained by Alan Gratz in the author's note.

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This is an image of two soldiers who survived the battle of Okinawa and there story is what the book "Grenade" is based off of.

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I believe the experiences of Hideki in the book Grenade were very closely related to most people at that time. Hideki was a young soldier who knew nothing about this war. I believe there would be some people like Hideki who would know nothing about this war but still have to fight against the Americans during that time period. Overall, I believe the experiences of Hideki were closely related to real people during that time period.

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This is a map of Okinawa which helps the reader understand where the two main characters are throughout the book.

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This article lets the reader know more about the historical time period. How people used to live in Okinawa and other things that are useful before reading the book Grenade.

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Overview

The island of Okinawa is the largest in the chain of islands known as the Ryukyus, which lie to the southwest of Japan. Taking Okinawa would provide Allied forces an airbase from which bombers could strike Japan and an advanced anchorage for Allied fleets. From Okinawa, US forces could increase air strikes against Japan and blockade important logistical routes, denying the home islands of vital commodities. Code named Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa and other islands in the Ryukyus began on April 1, 1945. Although the joint Army-Marine Corps landings on Okinawa were initially unopposed, the well dug-in Japanese defenders soon put-up fierce resistance.

The battle for Okinawa drug out over nearly three months and included some of the worst kamikaze attacks of the war. By the time Okinawa was secured by American forces on June 22, 1945, the United States had sustained over 49,000 casualties including more than 12,500 men killed or missing. Okinawans caught in the fighting suffered greatly, with an estimate as high as 150,000 civilians killed. Of the Japanese defending the island, an estimated 110,000 died. Some of the most well-known stories from the long fight include the heroics of conscientious objector Private Desmond Doss and the death of Ernie Pyle of Ie Shima. Twenty-four American military personnel we awarded the Medal of Honor for going above and beyond the call of duty. In American hands, the island provided a vital airfield in the final drive on Japan, as the Allies finally brought about Japanese surrender less than three months later.

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Battle of Okinawa | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

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On April 1, 1945, more than 60,000 soldiers and US Marines of the US Tenth Army stormed ashore at Okinawa, in the final island battle before an anticipated invasion of mainland Japan.

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The book Grenade by Alan Gratz starts with one of the protagonists, Hideiki being forced into the middle of a battleground in the war. Hideiki is an Okinawan boy that was forced to fight for Japan against the Americans. The other protagonist, Ray is a boy from Nebraska that volunteered to fight in the war for America and was deployed to Okinawa. Both boys don't like wars, fighting, and death so they want to avoid it for as long as possible. They quickly realize that what they want is not possible and both boys have to witness the horrors and death of the war. When Hideiki is faced with a choice to fight or to run he takes the chance to run. Hideiki knows that he will be considered a coward for running away but he does it anyway for survival.
While Hideiki is running away he comes across his father who he has not seen ever since they got taken to fight in the war, and he is badly injured. In his dying moments, his father wishes that Hideiki would go and find his sister, Kimiko. Determined to find his sister, Hideiki stumbles into Ray who is also running away from his battle. Hideiki takes this encounter as a chance to not be a coward anymore and throws a grenade at Ray, killing him.  Hideiki feels guilt and regret for killing this young man that was alone and afraid like Hideiki, and Hideiki views him as a human and not a soldier. Eventually, Hideiki comes across a camp that houses lots of nurses like his sister. After minutes of searching Hideiki finds Kimiko and they make a plan to escape the camp with them and the refugee Okinawan children. After tons of walking with the children, Hideiki and his sister come across an American camp that is controlled by Ray's old squad. Hideiki builds up his courage to decide to surrender to the Americans so that he, his sister, and the children could be safe refugees in the American camp.

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This book has the theme of hope, fear, determination, and survival are all things that humans have and those feelings can change the way that people act. This book mentioned a lot of how when people are scared or afraid they will make their choices for their own survival. Some people will fight and kill some people will run away. Readers are also supposed to learn about how the citizens and soldiers felt about the war, death, and destruction that was going on around them.