September 11, 2001: A Simple Account for Children

From Booklist
PreS-Gr. 2. No doubt there will be many books about September 11, but at the moment, there is very little written for young children, who, despite their age, may have many questions about what they saw and heard. This book has some significant flaws, but it gives a straightforward account of the events, and the illustrations, by grade-school children, personalize the text. The book begins at 9:00 in the morning; as people were arriving at work, "an airplane flew right into one of the two towers of a place called the World Trade Center." As long as the book sticks to the facts, it's pretty good, but complicated issues are sometimes too simplified. For instance, throughout Poffenberger refers to the groups "trying to hurt us" as "the Terrorists," always using quotation marks and a capital T. She does eventually give a fairly good explanation of what terrorists believe (they don't like the way we live, and we have too many religions). How and why "these people want to take over the world," however, needs more explanation, and even though one illustration shows a church, a synagogue, and a mosque, the text notes that after 9/11, people went to "church" services. Better things will come along, but this will fill a niche in some libraries. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


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This is a book written for children ages 6-12 about the events of September 11th. A 16 page book with illustrations done by 4th and 5th graders at The Lotspeich School in Cincinnati, Ohio, it was written to help young children better understand the attack on the World Trade Center. It has been very well received by school principals, psychologists, parents, and grandparents. It is factual yet emphasizes the patriotism of our country rather than dwelling on the attack.


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