Ground Zero by Alan Gratz
We’re here because we’re here because we’re here because we’re here.
There are several novelizations written for young people recounting the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Gratz takes an innovative approach, telling the alternating stories of Brandon Chavez, a nine-year-old trapped inside the North Tower on that fateful day and eleven-year-old Reshmina who escapes the annihilation of her Afghan village.
Each witnesses an attack from a foreign nation, experiences destruction and devastation in their own country, suffers the death of a close family member at the hands of an enemy, and learns that life after an attack will never be the same. Each experiences a personal Ground Zero.
Each witnesses an attack from a foreign nation, experiences destruction and devastation in their own country, suffers the death of a close family member at the hands of an enemy, and learns that life after an attack will never be the same. Each experiences a personal Ground Zero.
| On September 9, 2001, nine-year-old Brandon Chavez accompanies his father to the Windows on the World restaurant located at the top of the World Trade Center North Tower. While his father is busy preparing meals, Brandon sneaks away and gets trapped inside an elevator when an explosion rocks the massive structure. Alternating chapters detail Brandon's desperate search to connect with his father as building collapses. He crawls down an elevator shaft, sees a woman caught in the flames, and encounters crumbling stairs. The tension builds as his situation becomes increasingly dire. Richard, a kindly man befriends Brandon and accompanies him in his search for his dad. When both know that his father will not make it out of the tower, Richard assumes care for Brandon and brings him home to his waiting family. |  |
...sometimes what was right and what was easy were two different things.
Reshmina lives with her grandmother, parents, and siblings. Her older sister was killed in an enemy attack just before her marriage. Her twin brother leaves home to join the Taliban, vowing to destroy the Americans stationed in Afghanistan.
| | She rescues a wounded American soldier and offers him sanctuary with her family. This decision makes her home a Taliban target. To escape from the crossfire between U.S. and Taliban forces, Reshmina leads her family and the soldier to safety in an underground cave. Reshmina, noticing a young woman working as a translator, realizes that life holds opportunities that she thought were not possible for Muslim women. Her expertise with both English and Pashto could be the gateway to her future. |
Gratz brilliantly interweaves the separate narratives with connecting motifs. For example, a chapter concludes with an American trapped in the rubble and singing This Land is Your Land. The next chapter opens with Reshmina's grandmother sitting in a dark cave and singing
We are Afghan people
We are Afghans of the mountains
We are Afghan people
We are Afghans of the mountains
Near the story’s conclusion, the two stories from half a world away neatly dovetail and combine to create a unique picture of 9/11 from dramatically different points of view. Compelling reading.
Twenty Years Later: Patriot Day
 | September 11, 2021 marks the twentieth anniversary of the terrorist attacks which killed nearly 3,000 people. Known as Patriot Day, it is designated as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Participate in a Memorial Stair Climb. | |
Uncorrected copy provided by publisher.
Pub date: February 2, 2021 Publisher: Scholastic Press ISBN: 978-1338245752
RSS Feed
