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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
The characters in are descendants of adults involved with the attacks on 9/11. It's set in the present day and how people are still dealing with the fallout from the attacks. As someone that remembers the day well, this perspective is great for middle schoolers wanting to learn a bit about the historical event. It's not scary or full of awful statistics, so the average middle schooler can handle the content.
This is the book I will recommend to parents and teachers hoping to help make sense of 9/11 for students born after it. JPR's pacing is perfect, letting the reader grow and realize alongside Deja. I love the emphasis on citizenship and unity in the face of crisis, the interdependent teaching depicted, and the impact both had on students of varying backgrounds. As someone whose own father was there that day and who had a sibling born afterward, I appreciated how sensitively this handled and I wish it had been there for the day my sister learned about the towers.
Highly recommend this book. Teaches 9/11 for those too young to remember and for those who do, serves as a sobering but well-written trigger for thoughts about what it means to live in a post-9/11 America. Features a diverse cast of characters.
I enjoyed this book for what it is: a middle grade fiction book that explains 9/11. Deja, our main character, is living in Brooklyn in 2016. She's in 5th grade and has never heard of 9/11. She's living in essentially a homeless shelter and her father can't get out of bed because of anxiety/depression. She has to care for her two younger siblings and even though she's smart, struggles because of the whole being homeless.
She becomes insta-friends with two kids in her class (which was a little odd that they became friends so quickly) and the three of them work together to understand their different backgrounds and issues.
As an adult reader, the story is predictable, but I would definitely recommend this for upper elementary school and middle school readers. It is at that level and since the main character is unaware of 9/11, it helps explain it in a way that even a young reader will understand, without going too in-depth.
She becomes insta-friends with two kids in her class (which was a little odd that they became friends so quickly) and the three of them work together to understand their different backgrounds and issues.
As an adult reader, the story is predictable, but I would definitely recommend this for upper elementary school and middle school readers. It is at that level and since the main character is unaware of 9/11, it helps explain it in a way that even a young reader will understand, without going too in-depth.
As the 15th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, it's hard to believe the kids I teach now weren't even born when it happened. This novel speaks to that feeling of what it must be like to be a kid who doesn't know about 9/11 when the adults in their lives are still haunted by it.
Love this book. A great way to teach kids about how 9/11 affected our country and how the repercussions of 9/11 are still very real today
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is such a brave, beautiful book. I don’t have words for my feelings right now.
I read this book with the older two kids and it was really captivating for all of us and made for great discussions about 9/11.