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Explaining September 11th to a New Generation
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14 Cows for America
by Carmen Agra Deedy and Wilson Kimeli NaiyomahIt is June of 2002, and a very unusual ceremony begins in a far-flung village in western Kenya.
An American diplomat is surrounded by hundreds of Maasai people. A gift is about to be bestowed on the men, women, and children of America, and he is there to accept it. The gift is as unsought and unexpected as it is extraordinary.
A mere nine months have passed since the September 11 attacks, and hearts are raw. Tears flow freely from American and Maasai alike as these legendary warriors offer their gift to a grieving people half a world away.
World of the gift will travel news wires around the globe. Many will be profoundly touched, but for Americans, this selfless gesture will have deeper meaning still.
For a heartsick nation, the gift of fourteen cows emerges from the choking dust and darkness as a soft light of hope ... and friendship.
[This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts in grades 2-3 at http://www.corestandards.org.]
All We Have Left
by Wendy MillsNow:
Sixteen-year-old Jesse is used to living with the echoes of the past. Her older brother died in the September 11th attacks, and her dad since has filled their home with anger and grief. When Jesse gets caught up with the wrong crowd, one momentary hate-fueled decision turns her life upside down. The only way to make amends is to face the past, starting Jesse on a journey that will reveal the truth about how her brother died.
Then:
In 2001, sixteen-year-old Alia is proud to be Muslim... it's being a teenager that she finds difficult. After being grounded for a stupid mistake, Alia decides to confront her father at his Manhattan office, putting her in danger she never could have imagined. When the planes collide into the Twin Towers, Alia is trapped inside one of the buildings. In the final hours, she meets a boy who will change everything for her as the flames rage around them...
Interweaving stories from past and present, All We Have Left brings one of the most important days in our recent history to life, showing that love and hope will always triumph.
America is Under Attack
by Don BrownOn the ten year anniversary of the September 11 tragedy, a straightforward and sensitive book for a generation of readers too young to remember that terrible day.
The events of September 11, 2001 changed the world forever. In the fourth installment of the Actual Times series, Don Brown narrates the events of the day in a way that is both accessible and understandable for young readers.
Straightforward and honest, this account moves chronologically through the morning, from the terrorist's plane hijackings to the crashes at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania; from the rescue operations at the WTC site in New York City to the collapse of the buildings.
Ask Me No Questions
by Marina Budhos"You forget. You forget you don't really exist here, that this isn't your home."
Since emigrating from Bangladesh, fourteen-year-old Nadira and her family have been living in New York City on expired visas, hoping to realize their dream of becoming legal U.S. citizens. But after 9/11, everything changes.
Suddenly being Muslim means you are dangerous -- a suspected terrorist.
When Nadira's father is arrested and detained at the U.S.-Canadian border, Nadira and her older sister, Aisha, are told to carry on as if everything is the same. The teachers at Flushing High don't ask any questions, but Aisha falls apart. Nothing matters to her anymore -- not even college.
It's up to Nadira to be the strong one and bring her family back together again.
Cinnamon Girl
by Juan Felipe HerreraFrom U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera comes the story of one teen's emotional journey in the days after 9/11, and a personal look at the culture of Loisaida, the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
This emotional and stirring novel won the Américas Award and is written in a unique and arresting style.
When the Twin Towers fell, New York City was blanketed by dust. On the Lower East Side, Yolanda, the cinnamon girl, makes her manda, her promise. She vows to gather as much of the dust as she can.
Maybe if she can return it to Ground Zero, she can comfort all the voices. Maybe that will help Uncle DJ open his eyes again. As tragedies from her past mix in the air of an unthinkable present, Yolanda searches for hope. Maybe it's buried somewhere in the silvery dust of Alphabet City.
Eleven
by Tom RogersAlex Douglas always wanted to be a hero. But nothing heroic ever happened to Alex.
Nothing, that is, until his eleventh birthday. When Alex rescues a stray dog as a birthday gift to himself, he doesn't think his life can get much better. Radar, his new dog, pretty much feels the same way.
But this day has bigger things in store for both of them. This is a story about bullies and heroes. About tragedy and hope. About enemies with two legs and friends with four, and pesky little sisters and cranky old men, and an unexpected lesson in kindness delivered with a slice of pizza.
This is Eleven: the journey of a boy turning eleven on 9/11.
Fireboat
by Maira KalmanThe Snicker candy bar appeared, and Babe Ruth hit his 611th home run.
That was also the year the John J. Harvey fireboat was first launched. It had levers, buttons, buckets, brass trim, and five engines, and it fought fires on the piers. But by 1995, the city had little use for a fireboat, and it sold the Harvey to group of people who restored and used it for fun.
Then came 9/11, "something so huge and horrible happened that the whole world shook." The Harvey was called back into service. Firefighters attached their hoses to the boat and fought fires for four days and nights.
Kalman does some extraordinary things in this beautiful picture book. She takes the fireboat's history and puts it within the context of a city that has endured, framing the enormity of 9/11 so young readers, and even small children, can begin to grasp what happened. At the same time, she makes the event part of life's continuum of loss and endurance.
The Flame Tree
by Richard LewisIsaac Williams, twelve-year-old son of American doctors at a mission hospital in Java, Indonesia, is certain that his friendship with Ismail Sutanto is as solid and enduring as the majestic flame tree in the yard.
But the haven of their small world is shattered when a fundamentalist Islamic organization begins to threaten the hospital. Terrorists infiltrate, the State Department orders an evacuation, bombs ex-plode, and Isaac is taken hostage.
The experience embitters Isaac. He knows that he should forgive those who have hurt him, yet he doesn't think that he can. His life is changed forever, but will it be forever crippled by his bitterness?
Set against the backdrop of September 11, 2001, The Flame Tree is a fierce novel of friendship, faith, and forgiveness. Richard Lewis tells a story that is at once timely and timeless, one that has the power to move hearts and open eyes.
I Survived the Attacks of September 11th, 2001
by Lauren Tarshis and Scott DawsonOn the day that shocks the world, one boy just wants to find his dad. A powerful addition to the gripping I SURVIVED series.
The only thing Lucas loves more than football is his Uncle Benny, his dad's best friend at the fire department where they both work. Benny taught Lucas everything about football.
So when Lucas's parents decide the sport is too dangerous and he needs to quit, Lucas has to talk to his biggest fan.
The next morning, Lucas takes the train to the city instead of the bus to school. It's a bright, beautiful day in New York. But just as Lucas arrives at his uncle's firehouse, everything changes -- and nothing will ever be the same again.
Just a Drop of Water
by Kerry O'Malley CerraEver since he was little, Jake Green has longed to be a soldier and a hero like his grandpa, who died serving his country. Right now, though, he just wants to outsmart-and outrun-the rival cross country team, the Palmetto Bugs.
But then the tragedy of September 11 happens. It's quickly discovered that one of the hijackers lived nearby, making Jake's Florida town an FBI hot spot.
Two days later, the tragedy becomes even more personal when Jake's best friend, Sam Madina, is pummeled for being an Arab Muslim by their bully classmate, Bobby. According to Jake's personal code of conduct, anyone who beats up your best friend is due for a butt kicking, and so Jake goes after Bobby. But soon after, Sam's father is detained by the FBI and Jake's mom doubts the innocence of Sam's family, forcing Jake to choose between his best friend and his parents.
When Jake finds out that Sam's been keeping secrets, too, he doesn't know who his allies are anymore. But the final blow comes when his grandpa's real past is revealed to Jake. Suddenly, everything he ever knew to be true feels like one big lie. In the end, he must decide: either walk away from Sam and the revenge that Bobby has planned, or become the hero he's always aspired to be.
A gripping and intensely touching debut middle grade novel by Kerry O'Malley Cerra, Just a Drop of Water brings the events of September 11, which shook the world, into the lens of a young boy who is desperately trying to understand the ramifications of this life-altering event.
Love Is the Higher Law
by David LevithanFirst there is a Before, and then there is an After. . . .
The lives of three teens--Claire, Jasper, and Peter--are altered forever on September 11, 2001.
Claire, a high school junior, has to get to her younger brother in his classroom.
Jasper, a college sophomore from Brooklyn, wakes to his parents' frantic calls from Korea, wondering if he's okay.
Peter, a classmate of Claire's, has to make his way back to school as everything happens around him.
Here are three teens whose intertwining lives are reshaped by this catastrophic event. As each gets to know the other, their moments become wound around each other's in a way that leads to new understandings, new friendships, and new levels of awareness for the world around them and the people close by.
David Levithan has written a novel of loss and grief, but also one of hope and redemption as his characters slowly learn to move forward in their lives, despite being changed forever.
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
by Mordicai Gerstein
In 1974, as the World Trade Center was being completed, a young French aerialist, Philippe Petit, threw a tightrope between the two towers and spent almost an hour walking, dancing, and performing tricks a quarter of a mile in the sky.
Petit's high wire walk has remained part of the history of New York City and of the World Trade Center. The Man Who Walked Between the Towers captures the poetry and magic of his feat with a poetry of its own: lyrical words and lovely ink and oil paintings that present the detail, the daring, and-in two dramatic foldout spreads-the vertiginous drama of Petit's feat.
Just as the massive towers of the World Trade Center remain in memory, so too does the image of a young man walking in the air between them- here given expression by a master picture book artist.
A Caldecott winner. The book is unpaged.
Mordicai Gerstein is the highly regarded author and illustrator of more than thirty books for children including, most recently, What Charlie Heard, a portrait of the composer Charles Ives.
He lives with his wife, Susan Harris, and their daughter, Risa, in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Winner of the 2004 Caldicot Medal for illustrations.
The Memory of Things
by Gae Polisner"[A] gripping, emotional story set in the part of history we'll never forget." - New York Daily News
On the morning of September 11, 2001, sixteen-year-old Kyle Donohue watches the first twin tower come down from the window of Stuyvesant High School.
Moments later, terrified and fleeing home to safety across the Brooklyn Bridge, he stumbles across a girl perched in the shadows, covered in ash, and wearing a pair of costume wings.
With his mother and sister in California and unable to reach his father, a NYC detective likely on his way to the disaster, Kyle makes the split-second decision to bring the girl home.
What follows is their story, told in alternating points of view, as Kyle tries to unravel the mystery of the girl so he can return her to her family. But what if the girl has forgotten everything, even her own name? And what if the more Kyle gets to know her, the less he wants her to go home?
The Memory of Things tells a stunning story of friendship and first love and of carrying on with our day-to-day living in the midst of world-changing tragedy and unforgettable pain--it tells a story of hope.
Nine, Ten
by Nora Raleigh BaskinFrom the critically acclaimed author of Anything But Typical comes a “tense…and thought-provoking” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) look at the days leading up to the tragic events of September 11, 2001, and how that day impacted the lives of four middle schoolers.Ask anyone: September 11, 2001, was serene and lovely, a perfect day—until a plane struck the World Trade Center.But right now it is a few days earlier, and four kids in different parts of the country are going about their lives. Sergio, who lives in Brooklyn, is struggling to come to terms with the absentee father he hates and the grandmother he loves. Will’s father is gone, too, killed in a car accident that has left the family reeling. Naheed has never before felt uncomfortable about being Muslim, but at her new school she’s getting funny looks because of the head scarf she wears. Aimee is starting a new school in a new city and missing her mom, who has to fly to New York on business.These four don’t know one another, but their lives are about to intersect in ways they never could have imagined. Award-winning author Nora Raleigh Baskin weaves together their stories into an unforgettable novel about that seemingly perfect September day—the day our world changed forever.
The Red Bandanna (Young Readers Adaptation)
by Tom RinaldiOn a day that changed a nation, one young man found his calling. Welles Crowther didn’t see himself as a hero. He was just an ordinary kid who played sports, volunteered for the fire department in his town, and eventually headed off to college and then to Wall Street to start a career.
Throughout it all, he always kept a red bandanna in his pocket, a gift from his father when he was little.
On September 11, 2001, Welles was at his job on the 104th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center when the Twin Towers were attacked.
What he did next would alter the course of many lives. That day, the legend of the Man in the Red Bandanna was born.
Award-winning ESPN reporter Tom Rinaldi brings Welles’s inspirational story of selflessness and compassion to life in this young readers’ adaptation of his New York Times bestselling book.
Refugees
by Catherine StineSeptember 11, 2001 Two teenagers on opposite sides of the globe flee everything they know. In a world turned upside down by tragedy, they are refugees.
Sixteen-year-old Dawn runs away from her unhappy foster home in California and travels to New York City.
Johar, an Afghani teenager, sees his world crumble before him. He flees his war-ravaged village and the Taliban, and makes a dangerous trek to a refugee camp in Pakistan.
Thanks to his knowledge of English, Johar finds a job at the camp assisting Louise, the Red Cross doctor—and Dawn’s foster mother.
Through e-mails and phone calls, Dawn and Johar begin to share and protect each other’s secrets, fears, and dreams, and a remarkable bond forms that gives each of them hope and the courage to find a path home.
September Roses
by Jeanette WinterOn September 11, 2001, two sisters from South Africa find good use for the roses they have grown when the flower show in New York City is canceled due to the attack on the World Trade Center.
Shine, Coconut Moon
by Neesha MemingerSeventeen-year-old Samar -- a.k.a. Sam -- has never known much about her Indian heritage. Her mom has deliberately kept Sam away from her old-fashioned family. It's never bothered Sam, who is busy with school, friends, and a really cute but demanding boyfriend.
But things change after 9/11. A guy in a turban shows up at Sam's house, and he turns out to be her uncle. He wants to reconcile the family and teach Sam about her Sikh heritage. Sam isn't sure what to do, until a girl at school calls her a coconut -- brown on the outside, white on the inside.
That decides it: Why shouldn't Sam get to know her family? What is her mom so afraid of? Then some boys attack her uncle, shouting, "Go back home, Osama!" and Sam realizes she could be in danger -- and also discovers how dangerous ignorance can be. Sam will need all her smarts and savvy to try to bridge two worlds and make them both her own.
Somewhere Among
by Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu and Sonia ChaghatzbanianA beautiful and haunting debut novel in verse about an American-Japanese girl struggling with the loneliness of being caught between two worlds when the tragedy of 9/11 strikes an ocean away.
Eleven-year-old Ema has always been of two worlds--her father's Japanese heritage and her mother's life in America. She's spent summers in California for as long as she can remember, but this year she and her mother are staying with her grandparents in Japan as they await the arrival of Ema's baby sibling.
Her mother's pregnancy has been tricky, putting everyone on edge, but Ema's heart is singing--finally, there will be someone else who will understand what it's like to belong and not belong at the same time. But Ema's good spirits are muffled by her grandmother who is cold, tightfisted, and quick to reprimand her for the slightest infraction.
Then, when their stay is extended and Ema must go to a new school, her worries of not belonging grow. And when the tragedy of 9/11 strikes, Ema, her parents, and the world watch as the twin towers fall...
As Ema watches her mother grieve for her country across the ocean--threatening the safety of her pregnancy--and her beloved grandfather falls ill, she feels more helpless and hopeless than ever.
And yet, surrounded by tragedy, Ema sees for the first time the tender side of her grandmother, and the reason for the penny-pinching and sternness make sense--her grandmother has been preparing so they could all survive the worst.
Dipping and soaring, Somewhere Among is the story of one girl's search for identity, inner peace, and how she discovers that hope can indeed rise from the ashes of disaster.
Towers Falling
by Jewell Parker RhodesFrom award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes, a powerful novel set fifteen years after the 9/11 attacks.
When her fifth-grade teacher hints that a series of lessons about home and community will culminate with one big answer about two tall towers once visible outside their classroom window, Deja can't help but feel confused.
She sets off on a journey of discovery, with new friends Ben and Sabeen by her side.
But just as she gets closer to answering big questions about who she is, what America means, and how communities can grow (and heal), she uncovers new questions, too.
Like, why does Pop get so angry when she brings up anything about the towers?
Award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes tells a powerful story about young people who weren't alive to witness this defining moment in history, but begin to realize how much it colors their every day.
United We Stand
by Eric WaltersDramatic, gripping, and moving, this sequel to the award-winning We All Fall Down will captivate readers.
It's September 12th, 2001, and New York City is at a standstill: somber, bleak and shocked in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks.
Will knows he and his father are lucky to have escaped; others, like his best friend James' father are still missing . . . and soon presumed to be dead.
Poignant and dramatic, United We Stand is a young adult novel about heartache, self-discovery, and the power of friendship.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Up From the Sea
by Leza LowitzA powerful novel-in-verse about how one teen boy survives the March 2011 tsunami that devastates his coastal Japanese village.
On that fateful day, Kai loses nearly everyone and everything he cares about. When he's offered a trip to New York to meet kids whose lives were changed by 9/11, Kai realizes he also has a chance to look for his estranged American father.
Visiting Ground Zero on its tenth anniversary, Kai learns that the only way to make something good come out of the disaster back home is to return there and help rebuild his town. Heartrending yet hopeful, Up from the Sea is a story about loss, survival, and starting anew.
Fans of Jame Richards's Three Rivers Rising and teens who read Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust as middle graders will embrace this moving story. An author's note includes numerous sources detailing actual events portrayed in the story.
The Usual Rules
by Joyce MaynardWendy loses her mother in the World Trade Center disaster. She has to pick up the pieces and thinks the best place to do this is in California with her natural father. Will her family survive?
We All Fall Down
by Eric WaltersA novel from one of the country's most prolific and popular YA authors, this book, set in New York City on September 11th, shows us how the experiences of that day profoundly changed one teen's life and relationships.
Today is September 10, 2001, and Will, a grade nine student, is spending the day at his father's workplace tomorrow. As part of a school assignment, all the students in his class will be going to their parents tomorrow, but Will isn't excited about it-he'd rather sleep in and do nothing with his friends. His father doesn't even have an exciting job like his best friend James's father who is a fireman.
Will's dad works for an international trading company and has to wake up early every morning to commute to his office on the eighty-fifth floor in the south building of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Will doesn't see his father very often because of the hours he puts in at the office. He doubts that his dad will bother making time for him tomorrow even when they are supposed to be spending the day together.
In this fast-paced and dramatic new novel by bestselling author Eric Walters, Will discovers a new side of his father during an event that continues to affect the world. As Will's new teacher says, tomorrow "might be an experience that changes your entire life."
with their eyes
by Annie ThomsA deeply moving play remembering September 11, 2001, written by high school students who witnessed the tragedy unfold.A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age“Profound.” —Booklist“Moving.” —Publishers Weekly“Rings with authenticity and resonates with power.” —School Library JournalTuesday, September 11, started off like any other day at Stuyvesant High School, located only a few blocks away from the World Trade Center.The semester was just beginning, and the students, faculty, and staff were ready to start a new year. But within a few hours on that Tuesday morning, they would share an experience that would transform their lives—and the lives of all Americans.This powerful play by the students of Stuyvesant High School remember those who were lost and those who were forced to witness this tragedy. Here, in their own words, are the firsthand stories of a day we will never forget. This collection helped shape the HBO documentary In the Shadow of the Towers: Stuyvesant High on 9/11.For dramatic rights, please visit http://permissions.harpercollins.com/.