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bookdragon_library 's review for:
Towers Falling
by Jewell Parker Rhodes
This is more between a 3.5 star for me. The concept was one I hadn't really thought about. The fact that kids in school now were not alive during September 11th. I suppose it is like me learning about the Vietnam War or something that happened before I was born. There is the extra layer of interest and uniqueness because the main character Deja is living in a homeless shelter with her family. I think it is important to have that type of narrative in kids hands (on of the reasons I love Katherine Applegate's Crenshaw).
The book was a pretty slow start for me. I appreciated the glimpse in to the homeless shelter life and related issues such as safety, bathing, clothes, etc. It did start slow for me. And with the title of the book and cover being so obvious about the topic, I don't think it needed to take so long to introduce the point. The insta-best friends was a little bit of a stretch and a bit "convenient" for the diversity factor. I was also curious about how the dad could go 15 years and not receive much mental health or medical treatment for the post-9/11 ailments. It made me wonder, are there really people out there who have been unemployed for 15 years with PTSD?
I will say that some of the descriptions got to me. The image of people jumping from the windows is absolutely seared in to my own mind from watching the live coverage that day in 2001 and all the reports that came afterwards for days and days. Adults reading this book will definitely FEEL when you get to the 9/11 description parts but those are about 2/3 in to the book or more. I have seen other reviewers mention that everyone at the school was too nice but I don't really mind that. I think a layer of bullying would take away from all the other bigger events this book deals with.
The book was a pretty slow start for me. I appreciated the glimpse in to the homeless shelter life and related issues such as safety, bathing, clothes, etc. It did start slow for me. And with the title of the book and cover being so obvious about the topic, I don't think it needed to take so long to introduce the point. The insta-best friends was a little bit of a stretch and a bit "convenient" for the diversity factor. I was also curious about how the dad could go 15 years and not receive much mental health or medical treatment for the post-9/11 ailments. It made me wonder, are there really people out there who have been unemployed for 15 years with PTSD?
I will say that some of the descriptions got to me. The image of people jumping from the windows is absolutely seared in to my own mind from watching the live coverage that day in 2001 and all the reports that came afterwards for days and days. Adults reading this book will definitely FEEL when you get to the 9/11 description parts but those are about 2/3 in to the book or more. I have seen other reviewers mention that everyone at the school was too nice but I don't really mind that. I think a layer of bullying would take away from all the other bigger events this book deals with.