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Towers Falling
From award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes, a powerful novel set fifteen years after the 9/11 attacks.
When her fifth-grade teacher hints that a series of lessons about home and community will culminate with one big answer about two tall towers once visible outside their classroom window, Deja can't help but feel confused. She sets off on a journey of discovery, with new friends Ben and Sabeen by her side. But just as she gets closer to answering big questions about who she is, what America means, and how communities can grow (and heal), she uncovers new questions, too. Like, why does Pop get so angry when she brings up anything about the towers?
Award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes tells a powerful story about young people who weren't alive to witness this defining moment in history, but begin to realize how much it colors their every day.
When her fifth-grade teacher hints that a series of lessons about home and community will culminate with one big answer about two tall towers once visible outside their classroom window, Deja can't help but feel confused. She sets off on a journey of discovery, with new friends Ben and Sabeen by her side. But just as she gets closer to answering big questions about who she is, what America means, and how communities can grow (and heal), she uncovers new questions, too. Like, why does Pop get so angry when she brings up anything about the towers?
Award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes tells a powerful story about young people who weren't alive to witness this defining moment in history, but begin to realize how much it colors their every day.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published July 12, 2016
647 people are currently reading
10137 people want to read
About the author
Jewell Parker Rhodes
36 books1,546 followersJewell Parker Rhodes has always loved reading and writing stories. Born and raised in Manchester, a largely African-American neighborhood on the North Side of Pittsburgh, she was a voracious reader as a child. She began college as a dance major, but when she discovered there were novels by African Americans, she knew she wanted to be an author. She wrote six novels for adults, two writing guides, and a memoir, but writing for children remained her dream.
Now she is the author of eleven books for youth including the New York Times bestsellers Will's Race for Home, Ghost Boys and Black Brother, Black Brother. Her other books include Soul Step, Treasure Island: Runaway Gold, Paradise on Fire, Towers Falling, and the Louisiana Girls Trilogy: Ninth Ward, Sugar, and Bayou Magic. She has also published six adult novels, two writing guides, and a memoir.
She is the recipient of numerous awards including the American Book Award, the Black Caucus of the American Library Award for Literary Excellence, a Coretta Scott King Honor Award, an NAACP Image Award nomination, and the Octavia E. Butler Award.
When she’s not writing, she’s visiting schools to talk about her books with the kids who read them, or teaching writing at Arizona State University, where she is the Piper Endowed Chair and Founding Artistic Director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing.
Now she is the author of eleven books for youth including the New York Times bestsellers Will's Race for Home, Ghost Boys and Black Brother, Black Brother. Her other books include Soul Step, Treasure Island: Runaway Gold, Paradise on Fire, Towers Falling, and the Louisiana Girls Trilogy: Ninth Ward, Sugar, and Bayou Magic. She has also published six adult novels, two writing guides, and a memoir.
She is the recipient of numerous awards including the American Book Award, the Black Caucus of the American Library Award for Literary Excellence, a Coretta Scott King Honor Award, an NAACP Image Award nomination, and the Octavia E. Butler Award.
When she’s not writing, she’s visiting schools to talk about her books with the kids who read them, or teaching writing at Arizona State University, where she is the Piper Endowed Chair and Founding Artistic Director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,750 reviews
October 7, 2016
I have to start with the author's note, part of which reads "...I tried to create a book that teachers could teach. A book that didn't shy away from the tragedy but instead gave a sense of how citizens expressing our American identity were strong, brave and triumphant over terror." Hmmmm. I would replace instead with also because this book did both of those things. The author deserves accolades for her bravery in tackling this difficult subject.
Explaining September 11th to my children is something I think of often. My children have asked more about the Marathon bombing because it was local, relevant to their safety, and of course, talked about on the bus. It is near impossible to know when or how to convey the enormity of September 11th to my blissfully unaware children. I don't want them to know yet that there are people in the world capable of atrocities associated with terror. In fact, I only read this book because I had heard it is being considered as part of curriculum...and because I know the day is fast approaching when I will be asked direct questions for which I need to be prepared to answer. This book is a gift in that regard. A middle grade story that feels perhaps more geared toward upper elementary, this presents the reality in a way that is both honest and gentle. There are other pieces to the story, so it isn't solely focused on the September 11th tragedy, but also shines a bright light on humanity, community, diversity and how that contributes to the strength of America. I expect to read this with my children when they start asking. I hope they stay children for a while longer before they do ask. 3.5 stars
Explaining September 11th to my children is something I think of often. My children have asked more about the Marathon bombing because it was local, relevant to their safety, and of course, talked about on the bus. It is near impossible to know when or how to convey the enormity of September 11th to my blissfully unaware children. I don't want them to know yet that there are people in the world capable of atrocities associated with terror. In fact, I only read this book because I had heard it is being considered as part of curriculum...and because I know the day is fast approaching when I will be asked direct questions for which I need to be prepared to answer. This book is a gift in that regard. A middle grade story that feels perhaps more geared toward upper elementary, this presents the reality in a way that is both honest and gentle. There are other pieces to the story, so it isn't solely focused on the September 11th tragedy, but also shines a bright light on humanity, community, diversity and how that contributes to the strength of America. I expect to read this with my children when they start asking. I hope they stay children for a while longer before they do ask. 3.5 stars
June 13, 2016
This is an important book. I just didn't happen to love it. Reasons this book is important:
(1) It's important because it covers 9/11 in an upper elementary +middle school friendly way. Instead of taking place in 2001, the book takes place Brooklyn in present day, as Deja's teachers are gearing up for a unit on 9/11 and Deja begins to uncover bigger mysteries about what happened on that day and why her father is so sad.
(2) I also appreciate that Deja lives in a homeless shelter. Some of my readers may not even pick up on the hints about where she lives, but I think other readers will understand her situation right away. Deja is a good student and she knows it, but she also struggles a little bit with anger management issues. She also realizes that rich people aren't universally happy because they're rich.
(3) In addition, the book's cover page is sophisticated enough to pass as a grade 8-9 book while the font size and pacing is much more grades 4-5. I'm always on the lookout for authentic "high-low" books, and this might make a great choice for readers outside of the primary target audience.
As far as what I didn't love....
Deja becomes instafriends with classmates Ben and Sabeen. Both Ben and Sabeen have appealing characteristics and add depth to the story, but I wanted to see more about how these characters' relationship grew and changed.
As an adult reader, I was able to guess the father's big reveal from miles away. I wanted to see some long-lasting change from him as well.
I felt this story was very slow to start.... it wanted to make a larger point abot 9/11, but had a hard time getting there.
Deja speaks from the heart, which means a lot of fragments and casual language. It's not my cup of tea as far as writing goes, but students may dig it.
I would have vastly preferred this book with these characters if 9/11 entered the picture towards the beginning of the book and then see these heartfelt characters grow, change, and "grow into" their understandings of themselves as New Yorkers and as people. The potential for that kind of story is clearly here in the heart of this book.
(1) It's important because it covers 9/11 in an upper elementary +middle school friendly way. Instead of taking place in 2001, the book takes place Brooklyn in present day, as Deja's teachers are gearing up for a unit on 9/11 and Deja begins to uncover bigger mysteries about what happened on that day and why her father is so sad.
(2) I also appreciate that Deja lives in a homeless shelter. Some of my readers may not even pick up on the hints about where she lives, but I think other readers will understand her situation right away. Deja is a good student and she knows it, but she also struggles a little bit with anger management issues. She also realizes that rich people aren't universally happy because they're rich.
(3) In addition, the book's cover page is sophisticated enough to pass as a grade 8-9 book while the font size and pacing is much more grades 4-5. I'm always on the lookout for authentic "high-low" books, and this might make a great choice for readers outside of the primary target audience.
As far as what I didn't love....
Deja becomes instafriends with classmates Ben and Sabeen. Both Ben and Sabeen have appealing characteristics and add depth to the story, but I wanted to see more about how these characters' relationship grew and changed.
As an adult reader, I was able to guess the father's big reveal from miles away. I wanted to see some long-lasting change from him as well.
I felt this story was very slow to start.... it wanted to make a larger point abot 9/11, but had a hard time getting there.
Deja speaks from the heart, which means a lot of fragments and casual language. It's not my cup of tea as far as writing goes, but students may dig it.
I would have vastly preferred this book with these characters if 9/11 entered the picture towards the beginning of the book and then see these heartfelt characters grow, change, and "grow into" their understandings of themselves as New Yorkers and as people. The potential for that kind of story is clearly here in the heart of this book.
July 13, 2016
My full review of Towers Falling is now on my blog, BlueEyedBiblio!!
July 18, 2016
I heard Jewell Parker Rhodes interviewed on NPR a couple of weeks ago and was excited to read this book for two reasons. First, I teach high school English and am always on the lookout for new YA Literature for my students. Second, I was living in NYC on September 11, 2001 and have a deep personal connection to that day and the weeks that followed. I wanted to like this book so much that I kept reading even when half way through the book the story was going nowhere and I was ready to go into insulin shock from the sappy sweetness of the dialogue. The story is very predictable, the children characters difficult to believe, and the ending felt so contrived. There really is nothing revelatory in this story that one can take away to help explain to young people what happened on that day, and what it meant for our country. That said, I gave it two stars for effort, and I will be keeping it in my classroom library for my ELL students.
September 30, 2017
This book hits so many great notes! Deja is a 10-year-old 5th grader in a new school. She lives with her parents and 2 siblings in a homeless shelter in Brooklyn. From her school windows, they have a vew of Ground Zero and it is 15 years after the 9/11 attacks. Deja is African American and soon makes two new best friends - Ben, a bespectacled white boy, and Sabeen, a Muslim girl. They are a powerful team. The book tells the story of 9/11 in a way that helps young people who weren't even born when it happened understand what it means to all of us.
I reread this in Sept. 2017 for a book club. Despite the fact it is a book written for readers ages 10-12, these adults really liked it. More than one person expressed a reluctance to read a book about 9-11 but then found this one was so well done, the theme didn't overwhelm them.
This is an excellent book also for teachers to use with pre-teens to put 9/11 in a context they will understand. There is excellent pedagogy in the book, particularly tasks the students have to do that involve critical thinking. The voice of Deja the main character is authentic, and everyone commented on the deep authenticity of the book. Parker Rhodes was reluctant to write this book, and went to Brooklyn to talk to educators and others who witnessed 9/11. It is a great book for social studies teachers who will be familiar with the children's asking why they have to learn about the past. It is a book that helps us to understand why the past cannot be ignored and that it continues to live with us.
I reread this in Sept. 2017 for a book club. Despite the fact it is a book written for readers ages 10-12, these adults really liked it. More than one person expressed a reluctance to read a book about 9-11 but then found this one was so well done, the theme didn't overwhelm them.
This is an excellent book also for teachers to use with pre-teens to put 9/11 in a context they will understand. There is excellent pedagogy in the book, particularly tasks the students have to do that involve critical thinking. The voice of Deja the main character is authentic, and everyone commented on the deep authenticity of the book. Parker Rhodes was reluctant to write this book, and went to Brooklyn to talk to educators and others who witnessed 9/11. It is a great book for social studies teachers who will be familiar with the children's asking why they have to learn about the past. It is a book that helps us to understand why the past cannot be ignored and that it continues to live with us.
March 30, 2016
I love you, Deja.
**
Nobody tells kids anything. At least that's how Deja begins to feel when her class at her new school starts studying the attacks of September 11. Even though she has grown up in New York, Deja knows nothing about what happened. Other kids do, even kids who didn't grow up in New York. So why's Deja on the outside looking in?
Deja's home life has never been very stable. Her pop is sick, a strange illness that seems to make him sad a lot and means that he can't keep a job. Deja has been bounced around to different places and different schools and now the family is living at Avalon, a homeless shelter whose fancy name doesn't reflect the decidedly un-fancy interior. Throughout it all, Deja has kept up her tough exterior, knowing she has to have a hard shell because when the kids find out she lives in a shelter, they'll make fun of her.
But this new school is different. At her new school, Deja makes friends for the first time ever. She starts to find out what a community is and, for the first time in her life, Deja feels a part of something. But when her pop finds out that they are studying September 11, he gets angry. He threatens to pull Deja out of her school. What is making him so sad and angry? And why doesn't anyone trust Deja to be able to handle the truth?
**
It's hard for me to objectively review a book about September 11, but I will say:
- This book broke my heart and put it back together again. Knowing the fear and heartbreak I was feeling in Indiana when the towers fell, I absolutely can't imagine what it was like for folks in New York. Picturing kids and teachers being able to see the towers fall from the windows of their classroom... there just are no words.
- I think the emotions of the teachers at Deja's school are spot on as they start teaching this new curriculum to explore the attacks of September 11 upon its 15th anniversary. Rhodes shows us how they're feeling without coming out and saying it.
- I don't know how all this will resonate with young readers, especially kids who are not living in New York, but I trust that Rhodes has done her research on this. I can't wait to share it with kids and see what they think.
**
Nobody tells kids anything. At least that's how Deja begins to feel when her class at her new school starts studying the attacks of September 11. Even though she has grown up in New York, Deja knows nothing about what happened. Other kids do, even kids who didn't grow up in New York. So why's Deja on the outside looking in?
Deja's home life has never been very stable. Her pop is sick, a strange illness that seems to make him sad a lot and means that he can't keep a job. Deja has been bounced around to different places and different schools and now the family is living at Avalon, a homeless shelter whose fancy name doesn't reflect the decidedly un-fancy interior. Throughout it all, Deja has kept up her tough exterior, knowing she has to have a hard shell because when the kids find out she lives in a shelter, they'll make fun of her.
But this new school is different. At her new school, Deja makes friends for the first time ever. She starts to find out what a community is and, for the first time in her life, Deja feels a part of something. But when her pop finds out that they are studying September 11, he gets angry. He threatens to pull Deja out of her school. What is making him so sad and angry? And why doesn't anyone trust Deja to be able to handle the truth?
**
It's hard for me to objectively review a book about September 11, but I will say:
- This book broke my heart and put it back together again. Knowing the fear and heartbreak I was feeling in Indiana when the towers fell, I absolutely can't imagine what it was like for folks in New York. Picturing kids and teachers being able to see the towers fall from the windows of their classroom... there just are no words.
- I think the emotions of the teachers at Deja's school are spot on as they start teaching this new curriculum to explore the attacks of September 11 upon its 15th anniversary. Rhodes shows us how they're feeling without coming out and saying it.
- I don't know how all this will resonate with young readers, especially kids who are not living in New York, but I trust that Rhodes has done her research on this. I can't wait to share it with kids and see what they think.
October 8, 2017
Hundreds more reviews like this one at Mrs. ReaderPants.
REVIEW: Oh, the mixed feelings I have about this book! Overall, I think this is a very needed title to have in school and public libraries. It isn't easy to explain the horror and significance of 9-11 to someone who wasn't even alive at that time. I know the JFK assassination does not have nearly the impact on me as it did on my parents. And Pearl Harbor was a huge event for my grandparents. But even though I have visited Pearl Harbor personally, it doesn't affect me in nearly the same way as 9-11 or even the Challenger explosion in 1986. So, yes, Towers Falling is a much-needed addition to libraries, and I see lots of ways teachers could use this book in their classrooms.
The detailed way Deja imagines the plane impact and the collapse of the buildings is perfect. It's not overly-graphic, but it will help young readers really think about the horror and fear and confusion of that day. Well done!
I also appreciate Deja's father's PTSD and survivor's guilt. PTSD is something some children deal with at home but likely do not understand--super-important to include in today's literature for young people. That Deja's family is homeless is also a nice addition.
So what's not to like? Well...I just didn't find the story all that interesting. I skimmed some parts and daydreamed a bit in others. Deja and her friends are cute, but they are all so nice to each other. They are also smart, really into school, and creative. And that's everyone in the class. Where are the bullies? The nay-sayers? The n'er-do-wells? Does the teacher Miss Garcia ever get upset with her class or have a bad day? As a 17-year veteran of education, I can assure you that no class runs this smoothly all the time.
It also felt a little...preachy? I'm not sure if that's really the right word, but the reader is truly beat-over-the-head with the patriotism and American-ness of the story. As someone who has lived outside the USA for the past few years, I notice this much more prominently than I would have before I moved overseas. Even though the story does mention some Americans' hatred towards Muslims, it's pretty idealistic about America's acceptance of immigrants. The comments section of any Yahoo article about immigration will tell a very different story about how accepted immigrants are in the USA. Examining Towers Falling through the lens of today's political climate in America could be an interesting endeavor for older students.
THEMES: Sept. 11, 2001, patriotism, multicultural diversity, homelessness, survivor's guilt, PTSD
THE BOTTOM LINE: A must-purchase for all libraries serving ages 9+. Deja and her friends are only fifth graders, but I would love to teach this book with a seventh or eighth grade reading group--so many juicy discussions could come from it! Don't let the young age of the characters put you off.
STATUS IN MY LIBRARY: On-order and expected any day!
RATING BREAKDOWN:
Overall: 3/5
Creativity: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Engrossing: 3/5
Writing: 4/5
Appeal to target audience: 5/5
Appropriate length to tell the story: 5/5
CONTENT:
Language: none
Sexuality: none
Violence: mild; descriptions of 9-11 events, described in detail
Drugs/Alcohol: none
August 26, 2016
As the author commented when I heard her speak earlier this year, kids today don't know about September 11 b/c it happened before they were born. That is what motivated her to write this book, about a 5th grade girl named Deja who has lived her whole life in NYC, but doesn't know anything about the events of 9/11. When her new school begins a unit on that day, Deja doesn't understand why it's such a big deal: "I wasn't even born. I'm sorry they're dead. Honest. But why should I care? But as she and her classmates begin to dissect not only 9/11 but what it means to be part of a community and to be an American, Deja realizes that 9/11 has affected her family in ways that are still resonating. A solid approach to a difficult subject. To me this one started off a bit slow, but I liked the second half a lot. Would be a great discussion title for upper elementary kids.
September 10, 2023
TOWERS FALLING is an important book that middle graders today need to understand what happened on 9/11. Easy and informative, in of a historical fiction, Rhodes gives readers a book that is personal. The story follows fifth grader Dèja starting at a new school in the New York area. When she receives an assignment on the Twin Towers missing from the skyline out their classroom windows, she set off on a journey of discovery of September 11 and what it means to be an American. A quick book that I recommend to read in September if you need to remember to never forget on that fateful day.
April 27, 2016
This review is of an ARC of the novel I received from NetGalley.
I was a senior in high school when the Twin Towers fell. Since then, I've worked with high schoolers who were in elementary school when it happened, and middle schoolers who were born in the early 2000s. My current sixth graders were born after the Iraq War started. I have to remind myself how distant 9/11 is to them. To me, it feels immediate, like it was a handful of years ago. I debated for a high school in the Boston area: there were students at my school who had parents on one of the planes, and I debated against New Yorkers every weekend. It was surreal to hear that one of the main debate schools in the city had been turned into an emergency center of sorts; that kids and teachers at that school could see the towers fall from their windows. I remember how each of my teachers handled class that day, what the first tournament of the year felt like a few weeks later.
There's a real gap between students, who usually are never formally taught about 9/11, and the adults in their lives who were old enough to not just remember, but to know what was going on as it happened. Towers Falling nicely fills that gap through the eyes of three 10 year olds who are learning about 9/11 in school. The story centers on Déja, whose family has just moved to a homeless shelter in Brooklyn. As she and the students in her new school start a unit on 9/11, Déja and her friends slowly realize what actually happened--and Déja learns that the events of 9/11 directly touched her family.
A book about fifth graders learning about 9/11 in school, as a concept, feels a little contrived to me, and I definitely felt that Towers Falling was written specifically for that purpose. While I would prefer a book about 9/11 that was a little more organic, this book does what it sets out to do extremely well. Déja and her friends explore and discuss 9/11 the way fifth graders actually would. When they watch a video of what happened, it was a little tough to read the progression of their reactions, and the description of their visit to the memorial was really poignant. The book also deals well with the generational gap between the students and their teachers and parents. There's Déja's homeroom teacher, who was in fifth grade herself when the towers fell, and Déja's father, who was a doorman in one of the buildings and still suffers from breathing in the dust. Through those characters, the book explores the idea of how to tell elementary-aged children about those kinds of events, and even if students in elementary school should know about them in the first place. I really appreciated how the book brings students into that conversation, since it's usually one that adults have amongst themselves. Having Déja's teacher be in fifth grade herself on 9/11 is a great choice, since at that time, she was in the position of her students.
What kept this book from feeling as though its only value is its premise is the characters. Déja and her friends are the ones we really get to know, and each of them is fully complex. Déja's homelessness informs much of her perspective, especially since she starts a new school at the beginning of the book--her embarrassment and wonder as she discovers how much about New York she doesn't know, despite the fact she's lived in Brooklyn her whole life, is powerful. It's also a smart way to center a book for students, since there are bound to be students reading the book who don't know a lot of what Déja doesn't know.
I would firmly put it in a 4th-5th grade category, both in terms of decoding and content. I think it would be good in a 6th grade classroom library, but with lower grades, I would love to create a curriculum around it, or at least use it as a read-aloud with some class discussion. Using this book with the US History 5th grade curriculum could generate some great discussions about immigration, what it means to be American, and the impact of tragedy on American history. Students could research and put together their own recommendations for how to talk to younger children about serious events. Students can also talk about agency and character, and how each of the characters in the book needed to feel some kind of agency regarding 9/11 and who gets to know about it, and when.
It's way too early for there to be an AR quiz for this book, but I would guess it to be around 4th grade level.
I was a senior in high school when the Twin Towers fell. Since then, I've worked with high schoolers who were in elementary school when it happened, and middle schoolers who were born in the early 2000s. My current sixth graders were born after the Iraq War started. I have to remind myself how distant 9/11 is to them. To me, it feels immediate, like it was a handful of years ago. I debated for a high school in the Boston area: there were students at my school who had parents on one of the planes, and I debated against New Yorkers every weekend. It was surreal to hear that one of the main debate schools in the city had been turned into an emergency center of sorts; that kids and teachers at that school could see the towers fall from their windows. I remember how each of my teachers handled class that day, what the first tournament of the year felt like a few weeks later.
There's a real gap between students, who usually are never formally taught about 9/11, and the adults in their lives who were old enough to not just remember, but to know what was going on as it happened. Towers Falling nicely fills that gap through the eyes of three 10 year olds who are learning about 9/11 in school. The story centers on Déja, whose family has just moved to a homeless shelter in Brooklyn. As she and the students in her new school start a unit on 9/11, Déja and her friends slowly realize what actually happened--and Déja learns that the events of 9/11 directly touched her family.
A book about fifth graders learning about 9/11 in school, as a concept, feels a little contrived to me, and I definitely felt that Towers Falling was written specifically for that purpose. While I would prefer a book about 9/11 that was a little more organic, this book does what it sets out to do extremely well. Déja and her friends explore and discuss 9/11 the way fifth graders actually would. When they watch a video of what happened, it was a little tough to read the progression of their reactions, and the description of their visit to the memorial was really poignant. The book also deals well with the generational gap between the students and their teachers and parents. There's Déja's homeroom teacher, who was in fifth grade herself when the towers fell, and Déja's father, who was a doorman in one of the buildings and still suffers from breathing in the dust. Through those characters, the book explores the idea of how to tell elementary-aged children about those kinds of events, and even if students in elementary school should know about them in the first place. I really appreciated how the book brings students into that conversation, since it's usually one that adults have amongst themselves. Having Déja's teacher be in fifth grade herself on 9/11 is a great choice, since at that time, she was in the position of her students.
What kept this book from feeling as though its only value is its premise is the characters. Déja and her friends are the ones we really get to know, and each of them is fully complex. Déja's homelessness informs much of her perspective, especially since she starts a new school at the beginning of the book--her embarrassment and wonder as she discovers how much about New York she doesn't know, despite the fact she's lived in Brooklyn her whole life, is powerful. It's also a smart way to center a book for students, since there are bound to be students reading the book who don't know a lot of what Déja doesn't know.
I would firmly put it in a 4th-5th grade category, both in terms of decoding and content. I think it would be good in a 6th grade classroom library, but with lower grades, I would love to create a curriculum around it, or at least use it as a read-aloud with some class discussion. Using this book with the US History 5th grade curriculum could generate some great discussions about immigration, what it means to be American, and the impact of tragedy on American history. Students could research and put together their own recommendations for how to talk to younger children about serious events. Students can also talk about agency and character, and how each of the characters in the book needed to feel some kind of agency regarding 9/11 and who gets to know about it, and when.
It's way too early for there to be an AR quiz for this book, but I would guess it to be around 4th grade level.
March 29, 2022
This was just on the ok side for me. It was short and I was able to read it in one day. I liked the characters and how they were all from different backgrounds and situations. I liked the commentary on not judging others based on their religion or color of their skin. That's a great message for middle school kids. What I struggled with for this one was how the young character reacted to 9/11. She reacted like an adult WHILE it was happening versus a young kid 15 years after the fact. I guess I had a hard time buying it. And there were two 10 year olds navigating NYC all by themselves and that was hard for me to wrap my head around too. I'm sure it happens, it's just hard for me to imagine it knowing my own 10 year old would not be able to do that. So I guess those things just held back my complete enjoyment of the book. Also, I listened to the audiobook and I did not like the narration at all. It sounded like the story was being shouted at me the whole time. Not a bad book by any means, I just didn't love my experience with it.
January 29, 2018
I struggled a bit with the main character in this one. I loved so many elements of this novel, especially the parts that it was based on a real school and teachers who witnessed the towers falling from their classroom windows on 9/11. It was intensely readable and it may* make a good read aloud for my 6th graders.
I loved the raw honesty of the main character. She immediately voices what I hear in my classroom year after year on 9/11. "Why should I care? Why is this important to me? I wasn't even born yet." When a teacher first hears her students say this, it hurts us personally. Because WE care. Because it happened not so long ago. To hear these sentiments echoed in children all around America might dishearten me, but it strengthens my resolve as a teacher to help them to truly understand what happened on that day, and to encourage them to look beyond themselves not just in this instance, but in every instance in life.
In this line of thought, I could not get past one important detail. The main character, Deja, not only has lived in Brooklyn her whole life, but has also attended public school, and has never, not once, heard about 9/11? Suspension of disbelief only goes so far. I realize that Deja has lived her whole life in public housing without television, a computer, or a cell phone. I realize that her depth of knowledge about 9/11 might be lacking considering the reasons explained in the book why her parents don't want her knowing about it. However, children talk. Not only do they talk but boys in that age range love to speak gleefully about planes flying into towers, what they view as a video game moment. There is absolutely no way she hadn't heard about it. None. No matter what other reasons I could think of that she might not be completely aware, as a public school teacher, none of them rang true.
*Are my student's (born in 2004 this year) ideas wrong about 9/11? Absolutely. Are they insensitive about it? You bet. Do I use these comments as a way to start a conversation about a myriad of topics related to my content? Of course I do. I would be remiss not to. And I believe many other teachers across America, including (and especially? I'm not sure) in New York, do the same.
After a while, Deja's naivete started to grate. I tried to focus on the characters that I loved, and the way they were dealing with what I began to consider as Deja's uninformed brattiness. In fact, there was too large of a dichotomy between immature Deja (who read more like a 3rd grader) and her extremely mature and brilliant friends (who read more like very nice 7th graders who are nothing but failingly polite and kind -- yes, there are 7th graders like that but they certainly aren't the norm).
Overall, I think an apt analogy about reading this book would be that I was annoyed by the trees, but pleased when I pulled back and looked at the forest.
I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of this novel by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I loved the raw honesty of the main character. She immediately voices what I hear in my classroom year after year on 9/11. "Why should I care? Why is this important to me? I wasn't even born yet." When a teacher first hears her students say this, it hurts us personally. Because WE care. Because it happened not so long ago. To hear these sentiments echoed in children all around America might dishearten me, but it strengthens my resolve as a teacher to help them to truly understand what happened on that day, and to encourage them to look beyond themselves not just in this instance, but in every instance in life.
In this line of thought, I could not get past one important detail. The main character, Deja, not only has lived in Brooklyn her whole life, but has also attended public school, and has never, not once, heard about 9/11? Suspension of disbelief only goes so far. I realize that Deja has lived her whole life in public housing without television, a computer, or a cell phone. I realize that her depth of knowledge about 9/11 might be lacking considering the reasons explained in the book why her parents don't want her knowing about it. However, children talk. Not only do they talk but boys in that age range love to speak gleefully about planes flying into towers, what they view as a video game moment. There is absolutely no way she hadn't heard about it. None. No matter what other reasons I could think of that she might not be completely aware, as a public school teacher, none of them rang true.
*Are my student's (born in 2004 this year) ideas wrong about 9/11? Absolutely. Are they insensitive about it? You bet. Do I use these comments as a way to start a conversation about a myriad of topics related to my content? Of course I do. I would be remiss not to. And I believe many other teachers across America, including (and especially? I'm not sure) in New York, do the same.
After a while, Deja's naivete started to grate. I tried to focus on the characters that I loved, and the way they were dealing with what I began to consider as Deja's uninformed brattiness. In fact, there was too large of a dichotomy between immature Deja (who read more like a 3rd grader) and her extremely mature and brilliant friends (who read more like very nice 7th graders who are nothing but failingly polite and kind -- yes, there are 7th graders like that but they certainly aren't the norm).
Overall, I think an apt analogy about reading this book would be that I was annoyed by the trees, but pleased when I pulled back and looked at the forest.
I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of this novel by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
September 1, 2016
I feel a little undone after reading this book partly, I think, because it took me back to the morning of 9/11 and the horror I felt as I sat on the couch in my grad school apartment, uneaten bowl of cereal in my hands, glued to the television, watching as the plane hit the second tower and, then, as both towers fell.
The book was also painful because this election cycle doesn't at all seem to reflect the generosity shown by Deja, the 5th grade protagonist, when she writes "I love my American home. We are a family -- not perfect, not all the same, some rich, some poor, all kinds of religions and skin colors, some born in America, and some immigrating here." In the book, despite the difficult circumstances of her life, she talks hopefully about American values: strength, compassion, a commitment to freedom, connection between people. I hope these are values we still do commit ourselves to individually and as a nation.
Towers Falling is entirely age-appropriate, but it doesn't underestimate its young readers. One of the author's primary concerns is this question: How do we talk with our children about this event (and, I'd argue, our nation's history more broadly)? The different ways in which all of the characters, adults and children alike, have been impacted by the events of 9/11 are significant as well as thoughtfully and empathetically woven into the story. The illustrations, too, are both painful and healing.
The book was also painful because this election cycle doesn't at all seem to reflect the generosity shown by Deja, the 5th grade protagonist, when she writes "I love my American home. We are a family -- not perfect, not all the same, some rich, some poor, all kinds of religions and skin colors, some born in America, and some immigrating here." In the book, despite the difficult circumstances of her life, she talks hopefully about American values: strength, compassion, a commitment to freedom, connection between people. I hope these are values we still do commit ourselves to individually and as a nation.
Towers Falling is entirely age-appropriate, but it doesn't underestimate its young readers. One of the author's primary concerns is this question: How do we talk with our children about this event (and, I'd argue, our nation's history more broadly)? The different ways in which all of the characters, adults and children alike, have been impacted by the events of 9/11 are significant as well as thoughtfully and empathetically woven into the story. The illustrations, too, are both painful and healing.
March 23, 2016
There were some nice elements in this book, and I appreciate the way that the writer handled the incident of the Twin Towers in a graceful manner. The book addresses survivor guilt and the perspective of those who weren't yet alive when the event took place. The most interesting part for me was the juxtaposition of those handling the experience of the loss (parents, teachers, adults) with those trying to understand from the perspective from a position of never having known the world before 9/11 (the children in the story).
July 12, 2017
پانزده سال برای یک دانش آموز پنجم دبستانی، زمان زیادیه و اتفاقی مثل یازده سپتامبر که خیلی وقت پیش اتفاق افتاده، تاثیر کم یا کلا هیچ تاثیری روی دانش آموزان پنجم دبستان الان نداره اما یک معلم در دبستان بروکلین تلاشش رو میکنه تا با روش های جالب و خلاقانه، حوادث یازده سپتامبر سال 2001 رو برای دانش آموزهاش به نمایش دربیاره.
با اینکه زمان زیادی از این حادثه گذشته اما جزو مسائلیه که نباید فراموش بشه و با اینکه مساله سختیه که دوباره از نو توضیح داده بشه، اما باید انجام بشه. کتاب نثر ساده ای داره و توصیفاتش دقیق و جزئی هستن. سرعت پیشروی مناسبی هم داره.
با اینکه زمان زیادی از این حادثه گذشته اما جزو مسائلیه که نباید فراموش بشه و با اینکه مساله سختیه که دوباره از نو توضیح داده بشه، اما باید انجام بشه. کتاب نثر ساده ای داره و توصیفاتش دقیق و جزئی هستن. سرعت پیشروی مناسبی هم داره.
July 30, 2016
My third 9/11 novel this summer and just as good. Such a unique take on this historical event. Very well written and very MG friendly! A must read...
Read
August 28, 2024it’s more of a kid’s book, that’s why I didn’t give it a rating, but I think it is an important book for Americans
December 3, 2016
I loved the beginning of this story, getting to know resilient (sort of) Deja and her new found school friends Ben and Sabeen. The curriculum in the classroom of Deja's new school is based around 9/11, which the reader slowly learns as the story progresses. Deja's feisty personality shines through as she struggles through assignments that make her uncomfortable and rebellious. However as the subject of 9/11 emerges the story unravels, her friends are a bit too understanding of her to be believable, and the ending ties up a bit too neatly. That said, many readers will thoroughly enjoy a glimpse of a disaster they are too young to have experienced themselves.
August 7, 2016
It's Interesting to think about the fact that my students today were born after 9/11. I remember watching the news for days and worrying that my 16 month old daughter was in the room while the world seemed to fall apart. Obviously she didn't understand but I still thought about if I should only watch the coverage after she was in bed.
We've been to the Memorial and the museum. An awe-inspiring and deeply moving place. I could picture standing there as Ben and Deja did in the book.
We've been to the Memorial and the museum. An awe-inspiring and deeply moving place. I could picture standing there as Ben and Deja did in the book.
July 14, 2016
You know a book isn't working for you when you find yourself quibbling with the likelihood of events within the story. I don't know that much about PTSD but why would a woman have three children with a man who was in as bad a mental state as Deja's father. He suffered the tragedy of 9/11 four years before his oldest child was born. This and several other details of the story just didn't ring true.
February 7, 2017
<3 <3 <3 <3 :) :) :) :D
August 12, 2017
I appreciate this novel for its important messages about history, what it means to be AMERICAN, embracing diversity and all walks of life, and overcoming anger. There are many teachable moments with community ties, but some of the bigger connections felt forced for the characters. For my students that choose to read this book, I hope it teaches you understanding and empathy for an event that has severely impacted our nation.
March 10, 2017
Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 25, 2016
Review originally posted on Mostly YA Lit:
This book is a teacher’s gem. With the 15th anniversary of 9/11 coming up, Jewell Parker Rhodes has created a book about friendship and diversity in the midst of understanding history – both recent and very very far in the past.
Prickly Deja is a fifth grader who has recently moved to a community home because of poverty. Her father can’t hold a job, and her mother, though she works hard, can’t make enough to keep the family in their own home. Deja is naturally a bit defensive so when she starts at a new school, she suspicious of new friends Ben (a new student as well) and Sabeen. However, it’s through school that they all learn about two towers that fell in New York before they were born and how history and family can shape them.
If I had read this book as a middle grader now, I think I would have loved it. As an adult, I am deeply impressed with what Jewell Parker Rhodes has done – created, through her narrative, a way to teach what happened on September 11, 2001 to young students who were born after the terrible tragedy of that day. It’s a way of seeing and making sense of tragedy, but also understanding heroism and community and diversity.
I liked the simplicity of the narrative, and the complexity of Deja, Ben and Sabeen – they always felt like real kids to me. I also appreciated how smart and thoughtful they were in learning about something so nebulous as family and community.
If I have a qualm, it’s that as a Canadian, I don’t necessarily share the belief in America as the greatest nation in the world. While the book never explicitly says that, it is staunchly patriotic – and in a way that occasionally made me feel a bit uncomfortable. That said, I think if this book were taught in American schools, it would be well received, and it would certainly provide even more fodder for a Canadian classroom discussion.
Overall, a book that portrays the aftermath of 9/11 in a way that will make you think, no matter what age you are.
This book is a teacher’s gem. With the 15th anniversary of 9/11 coming up, Jewell Parker Rhodes has created a book about friendship and diversity in the midst of understanding history – both recent and very very far in the past.
Prickly Deja is a fifth grader who has recently moved to a community home because of poverty. Her father can’t hold a job, and her mother, though she works hard, can’t make enough to keep the family in their own home. Deja is naturally a bit defensive so when she starts at a new school, she suspicious of new friends Ben (a new student as well) and Sabeen. However, it’s through school that they all learn about two towers that fell in New York before they were born and how history and family can shape them.
If I had read this book as a middle grader now, I think I would have loved it. As an adult, I am deeply impressed with what Jewell Parker Rhodes has done – created, through her narrative, a way to teach what happened on September 11, 2001 to young students who were born after the terrible tragedy of that day. It’s a way of seeing and making sense of tragedy, but also understanding heroism and community and diversity.
I liked the simplicity of the narrative, and the complexity of Deja, Ben and Sabeen – they always felt like real kids to me. I also appreciated how smart and thoughtful they were in learning about something so nebulous as family and community.
If I have a qualm, it’s that as a Canadian, I don’t necessarily share the belief in America as the greatest nation in the world. While the book never explicitly says that, it is staunchly patriotic – and in a way that occasionally made me feel a bit uncomfortable. That said, I think if this book were taught in American schools, it would be well received, and it would certainly provide even more fodder for a Canadian classroom discussion.
Overall, a book that portrays the aftermath of 9/11 in a way that will make you think, no matter what age you are.
November 21, 2018
Consumed with the struggle to keep her family together amidst poverty and homelessness, 5th grader Deja has no memories or concern about the terrorist attacks on her home city before she was born. When the teacher at her new school announces a unit on the difficult subject, Deja doesn’t understand why she should care about what seems to be ancient history.
It’s difficult for me to wrap my head around an American child who is completely unaware of 9/11, but at the same time, I think: How much could my 5th grade class have told you about the Kennedy assassination or the Vietnam War, two defining moments of our parents’ generation?
I liked how diverse the characters in this book were—not just ethnically and religiously, but also financially. It’s rarer to encounter truly poor people in juvenile fiction.
I didn’t really like the dialogue in this book—the way the characters spoke just didn’t ring true to me. I also didn’t like the repetitiveness. On the other hand, the author did an admirable job describing the unfathomable—the moment the towers came down, seeing it both through the eyes of a child learning about the attack for the first time and an adult wrestling with memories of having worked at the WTC that day.
It’s difficult for me to wrap my head around an American child who is completely unaware of 9/11, but at the same time, I think: How much could my 5th grade class have told you about the Kennedy assassination or the Vietnam War, two defining moments of our parents’ generation?
I liked how diverse the characters in this book were—not just ethnically and religiously, but also financially. It’s rarer to encounter truly poor people in juvenile fiction.
I didn’t really like the dialogue in this book—the way the characters spoke just didn’t ring true to me. I also didn’t like the repetitiveness. On the other hand, the author did an admirable job describing the unfathomable—the moment the towers came down, seeing it both through the eyes of a child learning about the attack for the first time and an adult wrestling with memories of having worked at the WTC that day.
August 22, 2016
3.5 stars, rounded up. It's hard to believe that there is now a generation of children who need to learn about 9/11 -- children who weren't born when the towers fell and for whom the subject is truly history. But, time is inexorable and it's good that this book is here to help kids begin to understand how this one day has shaped the world they inhabit. Rhodes does a stellar job of making the horror of the attacks vivid, but not overwhelming to its nine and ten year old audience. She also creates a sense of community that can be supportive and healing which is something you don't always see in novels, even kids novels, set in NYC.
I loved that this cast is diverse and that the book is narrated from the perspective of a young girl growing up in a homeless shelter and her feelings of outsiderness and anger are realistically depicted. What is lacking though is a realistic sense of conflict between characters. There is a saccharine sweetness that prevents any tension building and therefore also prevents the novel from reaching a fully satisfying resolution. Overall, I will recommend it to kids who like realistic novels and who are curious about recent history.
I loved that this cast is diverse and that the book is narrated from the perspective of a young girl growing up in a homeless shelter and her feelings of outsiderness and anger are realistically depicted. What is lacking though is a realistic sense of conflict between characters. There is a saccharine sweetness that prevents any tension building and therefore also prevents the novel from reaching a fully satisfying resolution. Overall, I will recommend it to kids who like realistic novels and who are curious about recent history.
September 19, 2017
An important addition to fiction about 9/11 -- told in first person by Deja, a girl living with her family in a homeless shelter. Deja's parents are obviously struggling...Pop doesn't work, seems...sad all the time. Mom works all the time. And Deja watches her two younger siblings. Because of the move to the shelter, Deja must go to a new school. A progressive school. And that changes all their lives.
The school used to view the Twin Towers, now nothing but an empty skyline. The teachers decide to involve all students, including Deja's fifth grade class, in a unit of community-building, fact-finding, culminating in a study of the falling of the towers. Deja, unlike the others, knows nothing about the Towers or the events of 9/11. Nothing.
She and her friends Ben and Sabeen journey through the city, feelings of its peoples, and the courage of survivors.
The climax is touching and makes us face the fact lives will never be the same. Ever.
Jewell Parker Rhodes gives us a new, necessary view of this horrific event.
The school used to view the Twin Towers, now nothing but an empty skyline. The teachers decide to involve all students, including Deja's fifth grade class, in a unit of community-building, fact-finding, culminating in a study of the falling of the towers. Deja, unlike the others, knows nothing about the Towers or the events of 9/11. Nothing.
She and her friends Ben and Sabeen journey through the city, feelings of its peoples, and the courage of survivors.
The climax is touching and makes us face the fact lives will never be the same. Ever.
Jewell Parker Rhodes gives us a new, necessary view of this horrific event.
June 9, 2016
This beautiful book moved me and made me cry, and I think it's a must-read for kids and adults alike. Wrapped in the story of Dèja—a homeless fifth-grader in Brooklyn who learns the story of 9/11 and its effect on her family—is a heartbreaking portrait of friendship, poverty, race, mental health and what it really means to be an American. This book is a wonderful, gentle way to introduce kids to the terrorist attacks while also teaching them about diversity and homelessness. Highly recommend.
February 6, 2017
3.5 stars. I really love the main character Deja and her slow realization about her dad. I also really liked her relationship with her two friends, the fact that the family is in a homeless shelter and that Deja won't lie about it, and her connection to her teacher. I wish some parts of the story were a little stronger in some areas than others but it's a really powerful story about 9/11 for kids who were born after it happened.
August 16, 2019
WOW. Eye opening for sure. I hadn’t taken the time to consider what children born after 911 might think about it but I’ve now read 2 books almost back to back regarding this and it shows 2 very different perspectives. I honestly think we should all take the time to read and visit books like this to see how those events affect the younger generations. It’s all incredibly sad but a great reminder of what many of us take for granted.
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