This year commemorates the 20th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks of 2001. Devastating and with far-reaching impact, the events of 9/11 are memorialized in numerous works of fiction and nonfiction.
Our library collection contains resources for all ages that cover the events, roots, and fallout of Sept. 11, 2001. Visit the Headquarters Library and Tower Road and Library Partnership branches all month for a special poster display commemorating the anniversary.
Books for Children
For our children, September 11th is a historical event and can feel difficult to approach. The following books provide a thoughtful and simple jumping-off point for family discussions.
With simple language and a heartfelt message, this book addresses the timely and timeless issue of what to do when bad things happen, encouraging children to be kind, laugh, play, and nurture the Earth.
Branches of Hope: the 9/11 Survivor Tree by Ann Magee
The journey of the Callery pear tree rescued from Ground Zero and replanted 10 years later is presented alongside a wordless story following a girl and her firefighter uncle who is a 9/11 hero.
The inspiring story of the American flag that flew over Ground Zero, traveled across all 50 states as it was repaired, and returned to New York, a restored symbol of unity.
Fireboat: the heroic adventures of the John J. Harvey by Maira Kalman
A fireboat, launched in 1931, is retired after many years of fighting fires along the Hudson River but is saved from being scrapped and then called into service again on Sept. 11, 2001.
Books for Tweens & Young Adults
Fictional retellings of the events of 9/11 provide context for framing the events and emotional impact for tweens and teens who did not experience the upheaval at the time. Thoughtful and deep, these books depict a moment in time with tact and intensity.
Brandon is visiting his dad on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, when the attack comes. Reshmina is a girl in Afghanistan who has grown up in the aftermath of that attack but dreams of peace, becoming a teacher and escaping her village and the narrow role that the Taliban believes is appropriate for women--both are struggling to survive, both changed forever by the events of 9/11.
Nine, Ten: a September 11 story by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Four children from different parts of America go about their lives just days before the events of 9/11. Nadira is a Muslim girl struggling to balance her commitment to religious customs with her desire to fit in with the public school culture of Columbus, Ohio. Sergio lives in a low-income area with his grandmother in Brooklyn. Aimee is at home in California, missing her mother, who is on a business trip to New York City. Finally, there's Will in Pennsylvania, who has recently lost his father.
With the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaching, Dèja's fifth-grade teacher draws the students' attention to the skyline outside their classroom window, pointing out where the towers once stood. At first, Dèja is unable to fathom how something that happened so long ago could have any bearing on her, especially when she has more immediate problems—her family is currently living in a shelter. But she learns that the events of 9/11 have a long reach, affecting those closest to her in ways large and small.
Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan
Levithan successfully takes on the task of writing a 9/11 novel that captures the heartbreak of the events of that day through the eyes of three teenagers. Claire, in school that morning, finds herself drawn to late-night walks downtown. Her classmate Peter, waiting outside Tower Records to purchase the new Dylan album, watches the towers fall. And college student Jasper, who had previously met and planned a date with Peter, spends the day collecting papers that have blown into Brooklyn from the World Trade Center.
Books for Adults
An incredible amount of high-quality reporting, investigative journalism, and writing was done in the wake of September 11th. The selections below represent some of the most comprehensive accounts written within the last 20 years.
The Day That Shook America offers a long perspective and draws on recently opened records to provide an in-depth analysis of the approaches taken by the Clinton and Bush administrations toward terrorism in general and Al-Qaeda in particular. It also delivers arresting new details on the four hijackings and the collapse of the Twin Towers. J. Samuel Walker covers both the human drama and the public policy dimensions of one of the most important events in all of U.S. history, and he does so in a way that is both comprehensive and concise.
The Only Plane in the Sky : an oral history of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff
9/11 was a tragedy before it became a symbol and dividing line in American history, an act of violence that killed almost 3000 people and deeply impacted the lives of thousands of survivors, thousands more who lost loved ones, first responders, and many communities. As it begins to recede into history, award-winning journalist Graff has gathered memories, testimonies, and transcripts into a collective oral history designed to help readers to hear others' stories, to know what it was like to experience the day firsthand, to wrestle with the confusion and the terror.
The horror and heroism of 9/11 are brought to life in this panoramic history. Boston University journalism professor Zuckoff, who covered the attacks for the Boston Globe, traces the day's events through the stories of dozens of people who experienced them: the hijackers as they put the finishing touches on their plot and set it in motion; the hijacked aircrew and passengers stunned by the unfolding nightmare; the air-traffic controllers, FAA officials, and military officers who struggled to piece together what was happening in the skies (Zuckoff shows how miscommunication delayed crucial measures that might have saved lives); workers in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as they scrambled to escape from the growing infernos; and the firefighters who risked their lives to rescue them.
New York Times reporters Dwyer and Flynn have compiled an unbearably painful but indispensable account of what transpired inside the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001--from the crash of American Airlines flight 11 into the upper floors of the north tower to the hallucinatory collapse of both towers in the 102 minutes that followed. The authors have combed through hundreds of interviews with witnesses and survivors, as well as transcriptions of thousands of radio transmissions, e-mails, and phone calls, to produce a taut, minute-by-minute account of the events.
