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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
9/11 is super fascinating to me... this book is not. i know now how both POVs connect, but i still would've been much happier with just a story focused on 2001's 9/11, not 2019's.
Not what I expected, and yet I really have to appreciate it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was rather prepared to not really like this book (I'm not the biggest fan of Gratz - I know kids, other teachers and librarians really like him but his style is just not my favorite), so I was pleasantly surprised at how much Gratz invested in the moral/ethical questioning that he gets to at the end of the novel. Some of the military details probably should be fact checked, one of the main characters claims to have been in Afghanistan as a SF soldier for 10 years - maybe that is rotating through multiple deployments over the course of 10 years, but "...been here for 10 years..." does sort of imply continuous... I would imagine some of the other random details about US military operations, and different weapons/technology etc used by US, Afghan National Army and Taliban, as well as the logistics of US/ANA collaborations could use a fact check, and quite frankly some of those details could be omitted anyways because they are niche Easter eggs that don't really serve the plot.
I both like and dislike the constant back and forth between Brandon's story of escaping the North Tower and Reshmina's story from late-War in Afghanistan in Kunar Province. It's a bit too much of a constant back and forth, I think if the chapters were a bit more consolidated it would feel less jarring/forced.
That being said, there were some things that I think are unique to this particular j-fiction (juvenile fiction) novel that are worthy of some praise. Number 1, this book connects 9/11 with the Global War on Terror in a meaningful way - I am not talking aboutthe fact that the solider that Reshmina helps is later revealed to be Brandon, that is pretty predictable for Gratz and I get why it's necessary in j-fiction but it does make me roll my eyes a bit , but just getting to the idea that we invaded two countries in part as a reaction to 9/11 and a desire for revenge. Gratz takes it a step further and discusses the futility of invading Afghanistan as a larger historical patter (hello graveyard of empires), and the increasing struggle to find reasons to stay and a way to leave. He does, but barely so, address that there were some deeper issues around the conditions that led to al Qaeda's anti-US terrorism, including 9/11, and then tendency of Americans to struggle to imagine a non-US-centric worldview, which is a lot more than many j-fiction does. It could have been developed more, but I think for j-fiction it's probably as good as it's going to get in terms of addressing many of the nuances that caused 9/11. Number 2, Gratz does not fall into the typical j-Fic tendency to pretend that children were not exposed to the visual carnage. Interestingly, I was the same age as Brandon was in the book when 9/11 happened (9), and I do recall talking with schoolmates about people jumping from the tower in some of the days right after 9/11. I really can't remember if we watched the news at school, but we might have. And certainly everyone knew what was going on - so I'm kind of relieved that Gratz shows how horrifically violent it was as opposed to many other children's books that pretend that children were shielded from the carnage or were not told what was going on. And Brandon's dad dies in the North Tower which again sort of subverts that tendency of j-fiction about 9/11 that doesn't have someone directly connected to the main character die. I don't know if Brandon's dad dying is actually a spoiler because obviously if he was going to work at Windows on the World that morning and was there when the plane hit, there was no chance. But that might not be as common of common knowledge.
So generally, I was pleasantly surprised by Ground Zero. I might have to give Gratz another chance (to be fair Projekt 1065 was fine, I just really hated Code of Honor).
I both like and dislike the constant back and forth between Brandon's story of escaping the North Tower and Reshmina's story from late-War in Afghanistan in Kunar Province. It's a bit too much of a constant back and forth, I think if the chapters were a bit more consolidated it would feel less jarring/forced.
That being said, there were some things that I think are unique to this particular j-fiction (juvenile fiction) novel that are worthy of some praise. Number 1, this book connects 9/11 with the Global War on Terror in a meaningful way - I am not talking about
So generally, I was pleasantly surprised by Ground Zero. I might have to give Gratz another chance (to be fair Projekt 1065 was fine, I just really hated Code of Honor).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
This book gives a bit more graphic detail about 9/11 attacks than is the status quo in most j-fiction. Including talking about people falling/jumping from the towers. The lexile is 690L which means technically 3rd graders have the ability to read it. I would say for children in grades 3-7 it would be beneficial to read with an adult so that the adult can address any other questions that might come up, or can provide appropriate comfort given the difficult subject matter.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
I've tried to write a full review of this book, and I am struggling. I really wanted to like this book. Gratz often pushes the envelope with opinion presented as fact. I appreciate that most of the time he presents several perspectives. Clearly, in this book, he was attempting to show that the global mindset of 9/11 is quite disjointed with America's mindset.
I think I really enjoyed and appreciated the diversity of perspectives up until the final few chapters. It felt like there was too much of a "CLEARLY this is what we should do to fix all of our problems" type of presentation. Throughout the book, the complex perspectives seemed to be well explained, but then at the end, it felt too simplistic. The idea suggested is that all war should stop and Americans should evacuate all countries immediately and the Afghan people would finally be at peace. However, throughout the book Reshmina continuously points out that Afghan people have been conquered again and again and again and the Taliban were the new conquerers. I feel like the ending switched the script of the whole story to make the American soldiers the bad guys. It was honestly confusing after a lot of the previous set up. I can't pinpoint where the narrative shifted, but something just didn't settle at the end like I was expecting.
Trigger Warnings (spoilers): Descriptions of people in elevator car plunging to their deaths, someone has their skin melted off by burning jet fuel, mentions of bodies falling past windows as people jump from the tower, brief descriptions of wounded soldiers and being bombed, descriptions of bombs dropping on villages, generally bombs, weapons, guns are used and described
I would save for a mature older reader, definitely not below 5th grade without a check in discussion first.
I think I really enjoyed and appreciated the diversity of perspectives up until the final few chapters. It felt like there was too much of a "CLEARLY this is what we should do to fix all of our problems" type of presentation. Throughout the book, the complex perspectives seemed to be well explained, but then at the end, it felt too simplistic. The idea suggested is that all war should stop and Americans should evacuate all countries immediately and the Afghan people would finally be at peace. However, throughout the book Reshmina continuously points out that Afghan people have been conquered again and again and again and the Taliban were the new conquerers. I feel like the ending switched the script of the whole story to make the American soldiers the bad guys. It was honestly confusing after a lot of the previous set up. I can't pinpoint where the narrative shifted, but something just didn't settle at the end like I was expecting.
Trigger Warnings (spoilers): Descriptions of people in elevator car plunging to their deaths, someone has their skin melted off by burning jet fuel, mentions of bodies falling past windows as people jump from the tower, brief descriptions of wounded soldiers and being bombed, descriptions of bombs dropping on villages, generally bombs, weapons, guns are used and described
I would save for a mature older reader, definitely not below 5th grade without a check in discussion first.
Good YA historical fiction. Alternates between chapters of a young boy in the Twin Towers on 9/11 and a young Afghan girl. All ties together in the end.
Gratz creates two worlds that ultimately wind together at the end. There is a boy who is suspended from school and goes to work with his dad in the World Trade Center in NYC on September 11th, 2001. In 2021, a girl in Afghanistan tries to save her family and an American soldier who is injured by the Taliban. Will the boy and his father make it out of the tower after the plane crashes into the tower? Will the girl keep her brother from joining the Taliban? Will she be able to help the American soldier and save her family? How do the two stories intersect?
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated