In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers Book Review

 

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, D. (2021). In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers: the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years after the 9/11 attacks. Etch, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.  ISBN: 978-0-358-22357-3

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

This graphic novel shows the moments leading up to the planes hitting the two towers through what transpired in the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years after 9/11.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This information book falls under the category of history in the Dewey 900’s section. The book is written as a graphic novel and begins when the first plane hits the first tower. Readers are given a first-hand look at the confusion turned to horror as another plane hits the other tower. The novel jumps to the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa as other planes have been hijacked. The aftermath of finding survivors when time running out leaves readers on the edge of their seat. The second part of the novel shows the attacks against the Taliban, interrogation tactics used against prisoners, and the rebuilding at Ground Zero. The end has additional facts, source notes, and a bibliography. I am pleased with how Brown depicted 9/11 through this book as it captures the emotions of America after the vicious attack. It opens up this event to tennagers in a way they will understand and sympathize with. 

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

• Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 07/01/21

• Horn Book Magazine starred, 07/01/21

• Kirkus Reviews, 06/15/21

• Publishers Weekly Annex starred, 08/30/21

• School Library Connection, 08/01/21

• School Library Connection starred, 03/01/21

• School Library Journal, 05/01/21

• YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults-Nominees, 2022

• 
  

• 
  

• Horn Book Magazine (July/August, 2021)

• Brown's America Is Under Attack (rev. 11/11) offered a superb dramatic account of the events of September 11th for readers too young to have remembered it. Here he returns to the topic with a volume for teen readers and a twenty-year perspective on the tragedy. The book begins with the attack itself and its immediate aftermath, capturing the horror, heroism, and particular personal stories and details -- claustrophobic images of survivors entombed for hours until pulled from the rubble, exhausted firefighters and rescue dogs, stranded pets, and shoes "absent their owners" littering the ground. The story continues, as Brown depicts subsequent American attacks on Afghanistan and the Taliban, with graphic images of hooded prisoners, waterboarding, and confinement of captives in small boxes. Meanwhile, in the U.S., 108,342 truckloads of rubble are hauled away, a new Freedom Tower is erected, and hope arises from the ashes, a bright American flag dazzling against Brown's palette of browns and grays. A construction worker on a beam above the skyline delivers a patriotic note: "They hit the World Trade Center. They hit the Pentagon. But they missed America." Once again, Brown (Drowned City, rev. 9/15; The Unwanted, rev. 9/18; A Shot in the Arm!, rev. 5/21) shows his mastery of the graphic format for portraying humanity in the most trying of circumstances. Back matter includes an informative afterword, statistics, source notes, and an extensive bibliography. Dean Schneider July/August 2021 p.132

• 
  

• 
  

• 
  

• 
  

• 5. CONNECTIONS

Related books:

Ha, R. (2020). Almost American Girl: an illustrated memoir. Balzer+Bray/Harper Alley. ISBN: 978-0-06-268509-4

Manning, M. (2024). Trackr searches for survivors: heroic police dog of 9/11. Capstone Press. ISBN: 978-1-66905-796-3

Activities:

Students create a graphic novel for another American tragedy i.e. Pearl Harbor or the Civil War.