Fans pick 77 books like Towers Falling

The voice of this novel-in-verse brought me so much delight I could play it repeatedly like a song. Every page popped, sizzled, and sang in my brain like a B-ball in the hand of Michael Jordan on a basketball court.

I felt the emotions of the main character, Josh, deeply. His love for his brother, confidence at school despite inward insecurity, fear of losing a loved one, and love of the game shone through on every page. 

I love the narration of this book. It is rich, lush, and vibrant. Each scene is painted like the sky at sunrise. The main character Esperanza’s journey—from riches to rags, from pampered to grateful, from fearful to hopeful—is very satisfying.

Seeing the world through Esperanza’s viewpoint was heart-wrenching and eye-opening. The ending contains a delightful surprise, which, in my opinion, also makes for a great read.     

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.

The September 11th terrorist attack is a difficult history to introduce.

Picture books can be a good way to start the conversation, especially with 8 and 9-year-olds. In This Very Tree, Sean Rubin broaches the topic through a remarkable Callery pear tree in the Twin Towers plaza which survived the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

Rubin’s poignant artwork conveys both the destruction of that terrible day in New York City and the rebuilding efforts afterwards. Informative and lengthy back matter provides more information to complement the brief illustrated text. This picture book leaves the reader with an ultimately hopeful outlook of resilience and renewal. 

This nonfiction picture book is a straightforward account of what happened on September 11, 2001. Students desiring information for a report or personal knowledge will find an excellent chronological overview.

Illustrations depict the events with muted colors in a tasteful, not graphic manner. Readers are introduced to the stories of individuals who survived the collapse of the Twin Towers and those who did not. Direct quotes from eyewitnesses and first responders provide an immediacy in the retelling of events.

Presented as one long narrative, the compelling text invites the reader to read the full story without interruption.

Told in alternating chapters, Ground Zero takes places eighteen years apart, through the eyes of a boy experiencing the terrorist attacks and a girl living through the Afghanistan war which followed.

On September 11, 2001, Brandon is visiting his father on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center when the planes hit. On that same date in 2019, Reshmina faces a battle in her Afghan village and the decision of whether to help a wounded American soldier.

This novel is a page turner which does not gloss over the horrors of the World Trade Center collapse or the Afghanistan War. When the stories of the two main characters intersect at the end, the reader is given a lot to think about. 

I would liken the reading experience of this middle-grade novel-in-verse book to jumping across a bubbling brook—each page a stone to make the journey enjoyable. With just a few words, profound emotion is unpacked. Grimes spins her words absolutely beautifully in this book.

Besides the book’s language, I also felt a connection to the main character, Garvey, who struggles to find acceptance at school, home, and within himself. I read this book in one sitting because I had to find out how things would turn out for him. 

I love the first-person narration in this book. It is believable and beautifully expressed. I also love the main character, Zoe’s, wonderful view of the world. I saw my younger self mirrored in her.

Like Zoe, I used my imagination to experience adventure. While alone, I found peace and security beneath the thick branches of trees. As a preteen, I felt ugly and weird and misunderstood more times than not. And like her, when someone came along who did understand and who also saw the world through a similar lens, how I rejoiced, but oh, how I grieved when that person moved on.

I rooted for Zoe throughout this fast-paced story, hoping that all in her wonderful world would remain intact. 

A book rarely brings me to tears. I didn’t know what to expect when I first picked up this one. The main thing I love about this book is that it takes you right into the head of the main character, who happens to be a very precocious nine-year-old boy. Outwardly, the main character is on an adventure to solve a mystery, but inwardly, he’s on a journey to come to terms with his father’s death.

The protagonist–who, on the surface, is nothing like me–made me feel and address things I had not come to terms with in my life. I felt myself struggling along with the character, and then I ultimately began to heal with him, too. It’s a powerful, tragic, yet absolutely hilarious story that allowed me to forget myself for a while before realizing that I was learning about myself the entire time I read it.

Long before he became a Trump apologist, Rudy Giuliani was regarded by some as “America’s Mayor" in the wake of 9/11.

He led the city’s response to the World Trade Center attack, and in the view of many, he provided strong leadership in that crucial time, marshaling the city’s resources during the search, recovery, rescue, and beginning of the clean-up process. He attended what seemed like an endless stream of funerals for FDNY and NYPD members who were killed on 9/11, eulogizing the city’s dead heroes.

Barrett and Collins – two skilled NYC reporters – dive deep into the failings of the Giuliani mayoral administration that may have contributed to the loss of life among first responders that fateful day, including the well-documented problems with FDNY radios that hampered the efforts to evacuate FDNY members before the Twin Towers collapsed.