911: The Book of Help

by Michael Cart (Editor), Marc Aronson (Editor), Marianne Carus (Editor)

In 911: The Book of Help, award-winning writers share their responses to the September 11, 2001 tragedy and describe the heroism of those who first rushed to help. The works in 911 are donated, and 50 percent of the net proceeds will go to a charity assisting children and spouses of victims.

Genres: Short Stories, Nonfiction, Poetry

192 pages, Paperback

First published July 25, 2002

About the author

Former Director of the Beverly Hills (CA) Public Library and a Past President of the Young Adult Library Services Association, Michael Cart is a nationally recognized expert in children's and young adult literature. Now a columnist and reviewer for ALA's Booklist magazine, he is the author or editor of eight books, including From Romance to Realism, a critical history of YA literature; MY FATHER'S SCAR, a young adult novel that was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and the anthology LOVE AND SEX: Ten Stories of Truth, also a Best Book for Young Adults and a Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers.

Michael teaches young adult literature at UCLA and is the recipient of the 2000 Grolier Foundation Award. He lives in northern California.

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book but the way the book is organized is confusing

[Alyse Liebovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the intro to this book when I found it at the ISLMA conference last fall. It took almost a year for me to pick it up again and actually read it. The timing intentional, it's hard not for me to reflect on the difference between 9/10/01 and 9/11/01 around this time of year.

Edited by Michael Cart, this book is broken up into four sections, titled: Healing, Searching For History, Asking Why? Why? Why? and Reacting and Recovering. Renowned writers, such as Naomi Shihab Nye, Walter Dean Myers, Katherine Paterson, and Sharon Creech [among many more], all contributed a poem, short story, or essay about 9/11 and its impact.

This book was therapeutic in a sense because I felt like a lot of the contributing authors and I shared a mutual understanding of what happened and how important it is to form that into words that can help us grieve, make sense of, and deal with something that seemed completely incomprehensible.

Here are some stand-out sentences I underlined along the way...

"Art takes the pain and chaos of our broken world and transforms it into something that brings forth life." ~Katherine Paterson

"You can see it all on the news, but when you stand on the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights, when you hear the roar of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway under your feet, when you look up at the Manhattan skyline and realize that the towers are really, really gone--then you know how much they took." ~Joan Bauer

"When I think about the events of September 11, I'm torn between wanting to say nothing because no words can be enough--and wanting to describe everything that is still worth living for." ~Kyoko Mori

"Even as I grieve the loss of our oasis, I want to welcome the opportunity to belong to the rest of the world...suffering create [a bond] between people past and present, here and there, and all over the world." ~Kyoko Mori

"USE WORDS. It is the most helpful thing I have learned in my life. We find words, we select and arrange them, to help shape our experiences of things. Whether we write them down for ourselves or send them into the air as connective lifelines between us, they help us live, and breathe, and see...if people who are angry, or frustrated, could use words instead of violence, how would our world be different?" ~Naomi Shihab Nye

[Jayda W · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the book was a very good read. To know and to feel the pain, of different people's perspective of the tragedies of September 11th, 2001 is very heart whelming. I recommend this book to anyone who really want to know other people's opinion on the day, and people perspectives. This book was about how different writers, poets, and authors discuss and distribute their feelings regarding the horrific day.

[Caylie Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very good. It had emotional detail that I really enjoyed. I really liked the cover of the book. How they did the layout for the book was also very good. My rating is 4 stars because I feel like you can always become better.

[Kathleen Garber · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first saw this book I thought it was about calling 911 but it's about 9/11 as in September 11, 2001.

Indeed the authors explain: "One of the awful ironies of the attacks is that they occurred on a date, 9/11, that is the same as the telephone number we are accustomed to call for emergency assistance. By calling this book 911: The Book of Help, we hope to underscore the fact that 911 must remain not only a telephone number but also a symbol of the selfless human capacity to aid those in every sort of need."

Anyways, the book is an anthology of stories and poems written by those who were closely affected by the days events. The submissions are separated into four categories: Healing, Searching for History, Asking Why? Why? Why? and Reacting and Recovering. I really enjoyed reading the stories and even the poems (I'm not a poem person.) Some of the stories were actually hard to read, as they were first person accounts of what went down.

My favourite poem was Voices by Sonya Sones and my favourite story was The Decision to Go by David Paterson.

[Erin Reilly-Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a little confused as to why we read this for an adolescent literature class because while it is a beautiful and potent medley of author responses to 9/11, it seems like it's almost written more as a coping mechanism for the authors. It completely leaves out the teen perspective, as today's teens would have been children in 2001 and would have experienced the original event differently, perhaps less personally, but maybe more horrifically. While it's not a great teen book, portions of it would be good for classroom use and since it has a wide variety media within, it could be fun to ask students to select different pieces from it to read and respond to. For adults, many of the poems and personal accounts of the infamous day are poignant and several made me cry.

[Lizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the concept behind this, and most of all, I love the Katherine Paterson piece in the beginning, which I've reread several times. It is perfect that this is a thing.

I think I wasn't as invested in every single piece, overall? But that's okay. Maybe someday I will revisit them all.

[Leah Longnecker · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for a book about the actual attack on 9/11 this isn't the book for you. It is more so the cleanup of 9/11. This book consists of several individuals' stories of what that day was like for them and also their efforts to cleanup and help the city. Though it isn't about the actual event, it is still an interesting book to read.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want a book that deals with the wide impact of 9/11, this is for you. There's not a specific political agenda; different authors present their reactions.

[Hilary · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was ok. The premise sounded exciting--a bunch of YA/kid lit authors responding, mostly in personal essays, to 9/11, but I only liked some of them. Which is ok, I guess.

[Mrs. Mo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful reflections and reactions to 9/11 written by authors
Personal essays, narratives and poems
Beautifully compiled

[LeAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moving and thought provoking, especially the poems, this book connects to the experiences of WW2 and our own history of violence rising out of fear.

[Marcus Quinones · Rating 5 out of 5]

It talks about the Twin Towers.

[Briana]

The story involves several different aspects and points of view before during and after 9/11. It gives you an insight on all aspects of this event; from the family members, to the people who contributed to building the twin towers, to the people who worked in them, it gives you their stories and what they went through.
There were several stories about people who pushed through to help one another during this event and they gave great details of what actually happened. The stories where true and gave such meaning to everything. You can really feel what they were saying though their words and then stories where so heart felt; I got a little teary eyed during a few because there is so much love, pain, and strength behind everything. You will not want to stop once you get going.
Although this was a great book with a lot of meaning behind it I did not like a few things about it, such as I don’t find it necessary to give details about things that were unrelated such as in one story they talked about their uncle a lot and how he gave him a job because of his mom. There is meaning to that but I did not find it necessary.
Overall this was a great book and the stories in it where great. I loved how in depth they got with details and all the different views they had. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy stories that involve emotions such as being heartfelt, sad, strength, and powerful.