76 books like Just a Drop of Water

For those of us who lived through 9/11, it’s easy to forget that kids in school today weren’t even born in 2001; to them, the events of 9/11 are ancient history. I Survived is the kind of book that can jump-start their interest by dropping them right into the thick of the events of that day. Lucas is a football-obsessed teen who makes a series of completely relatable bad decisions that leave him right at Ground Zero just as the planes hit the towers. Told in age-appropriate but heart-stopping detail, this book captures a perfect snapshot of the confusion, fear, heroism, and resolve on display that extraordinary day. 

This novel follows four adolescents in the 48 hours preceding September 11, 2001.

The characters are two girls and two boys living in different parts of the United States in very different families. By fully depicting the lives of each character before the world abruptly changed, Baskin shows us how a watershed event changes one’s perspective forever.

My favorite moment comes at the end when a character remembers “that day, a year ago, when nothing else was important to her except fitting in.” Without violence or direct loss to the main characters, Baskin brings home the point that September 11th affected Americans from all across the country.

In the face of tragedy, Baskin shows us how we are all interconnected.

Racing away from Ground Zero, 16-year-old Kyle encounters a bizarre sight: an angel, clinging to the Brooklyn Bridge. Kyle stops to help and discovers the “angel” is a teenage girl, her wings a costume from a school play. But the girl doesn’t remember anything about who she is. Thus begins a quest that pulls Kyle in conflicting directions: to find his dad (a first responder), to care for his uncle (a disabled cop), and to help this girl find her way home.

I love that the book begins with an act of kindness to a stranger, something we saw often after 9/11. And while we sometimes say we’d love to forget an event like 9/11, Gae’s book bears witness to the need to remember.

Nothing brings a classroom alive like an engaged and enthusiastic teacher! The best ones know how to guide their students into the heart of a text to make discoveries and connections on their own. I have done hundreds of school visits (virtual and in-person), and I love watching kids beam with pride as they reveal something they’ve learned from reading my book or come to a revelation through our chat. 

Lesley Roessing’s book is not a work of fiction – but it’s an invaluable tool to help teachers guide young readers through the books on this list. The final section of the book is a sample 9/11 book club using all the books on my list (and many more). Any teacher drawn to this list would be well-served by Lesley’s insightful lesson plans.

This work is different from previous books suggested here. It is only recently published, but it presents revised versions of essays that sometimes date back a decade or more. Superbly written with great clarity, its strong points are the detail and care with which it spells out how economic factors are woven into American foreign policy and national security strategies.

The author’s subtle understanding of how nuclear weapons dilemmas, historical choices, industrial structures, and bureaucratic competition combine in actual policymaking puts most literature on international relations to shame. In a multi-polar world that is becoming ever more dangerous and in which the specter of nuclear war is again rising, Kurth’s discussions of imperial overextension, the limits of hegemony by one great power, and related topics are extraordinarily timely. Its accounts of major international crises and national security policy point up the shallowness of most American foreign policy discussions and the… show more.

I admired the thorough and bi-partisan approach taken by the 9/11 Commission (authorized by then President George Bush) to examine the international, national, and local ramifications of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Relying on first-hand testimony and extensive documentation, the commission staff provided valuable insights into the missed signals, mixups, and government failures on many levels that left America open to the worst attack on our homeland since the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Satam al-Suqami, a hijacker aboard American Airlines Flight 11, died when the aircraft slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre. Miraculously, his passport survived the devastating impact and landed intact on the street several blocks from the World Trade Centre. The black boxes from both Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, built to withstand air crashes, did not survive.

This is one of many incredible facts to emerge in the aftermath of the world’s deadliest terror attack, and New York Times best-selling journalist Jim Marrs does an exceptional job of exposing many of the inconsistencies in the official narrative that led to the ‘War on Terror’ and, as Marrs argues, the quiet war on liberty and freedom. A must-read for those who suspect that there was more to that terrible day than meets the eye.

I felt an affinity with Dr. Melinek partly because we both started our careers right before or right after 9/11 when we were both “learning the ropes” in our respective fields. In Dr. Melinek’s case, she had been working as an ME in New York City for two months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks; I started as a graphic artist at the FBI just two months after, in November 2001.

I loved this book because it gives the real day-to-day experiences of a woman working in what could be a depressing, ghastly environment. However, the author keeps her sense of humor throughout while showing the utmost compassion for victims. I found myself nodding my head in agreement at some of the cases she worked on, especially the one with an unidentified victim. 

Even though it was written in 2007, Wright’s book on the 9/11 terror attacks and their back story remains the single best work on the subject. Wright combines big-picture historical analysis with a journalist’s eye for detail and a novelist’s flair for psychology and storytelling.

I have read nothing since that draws together as well all the myriad strains of this complex and earth-shattering story. This is the book I go back to to help me think about the single most important event so far of the 21st century.

During the aftermath of September 11, 2001, when I was working on my own book and the motif of demolition was suddenly inescapable, this modest children’s book was published. In lovely gouache, Maira Kalman encapsulates the story of the salvaged fireboat John J. Harvey and its heroic journey on that dark day. As I struggled to make sense of a world falling apart, this book was a breath of fresh air. Kalman shows how to meld urban history and tragedy in a tale told with supreme deftness and charm that ennobles, no matter your age. Above all, her volume stands as a hopeful tribute to the power of collective human action, against all odds, to turn the tide.