Nora Raleigh Baskin wrote the youth novel “nine, ten: A September 11 Story” and my lovely daughter bought it for her 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Cole. Each book fair, I go with my kids to scour the new, beautiful books. My precious two get a couple of books and nifty trinket plus a book for their teacher. Avery picked this one. Seeing how I work at the school, I ended up borrowing this book to read in my very little spare time. So here is my review…….
The majority of this book is set on the day before September 11th. Four kids from all walks of life about middle school age are having their stories told. In this novel there is an inner city, smart boy, a Pennsylvania grieving boy, a girl in a new California school dealing with traveling mother, and a Muslim daughter trying to balance school life and her religion. Each kid is trying to handle their own life and is impacted by the events of September 11th.
My lovely 4th grader would enjoy it, but she would not feel the depth that it entails. As I read this novel, I could foresee the impact that 9/11 would forever change these kids’ lives. We hear all the time, “I remember exactly where I was at and what I was doing on that day” and I am no different. I was in high school, about the same age as these four characters. Nora gave me chills with descriptions of how these students viewed this day in history. I remember having the same thoughts and fears.
Avery and others who were not alive or old enough to experience this tragic event, will not understand how the world stood still. How this changed things like no other. Now as an adult reflecting back on 9/11, I can’t help but to wonder about my Omi. My Omi lived in Germany during World War II. She lived first hand as a young girl old enough to remember the feelings and some events. I can sympathize and understand the history and stories, but I cannot truly understand or feel the true impact it had on her. I can imagine how she must have felt and the fear of the situation, but never will I truly grasp the understanding. That’s how I feel in regards to September 11th. We will teach it in our history books and have memorial on that date, but our kids and the future will never know the true impact and feelings we felt on that day. Gut wrenching fear struck our homeland and changed us forever.
In the book, it showed me a different view as well. When September 11th occurred, I lived in Texas at a medium size school. Not once, until this book, have I imagined what it would have been like to be a high school student near New York or Pennsylvania. Not once did I imagine the missing person posters or the chaos that occurred. I thought of the thousands of lost lives and the pain others felt, but never the lack of closure for some. This book made me want to wrap those kids up.
*****SPOILER ALERT…Go with Caution******
This is a novel for youth. I did enjoy this book. I feel like as a teacher, it could be used to teach the history and diary aspect of the book. There are so many things I could do with this book for a unit study if I was still general ed teacher. In fact, I will recommend this to my general education teachers. But as an adult reader, I was putting my emotions into the characters and seeing how each would play out. Not that I want sadness or seem dark, but I would love to read an “adult” version of this tale. Everyone who was close to the middle schoolers survived. Loss due to the horrific event did not directly affect these four characters. There was a short snapshot of how they all intertwined and joined together inspire of differences, but the aftermath was short. I was ready to invest into the loss and the overcoming and unity with this story on an adult level. For my child, I would recommend this book over and over. For a teacher, I would do the same. There is nothing wrong with this novel, I just want feel and view this tale as the adults did. Nora Raleigh Baskin, maybe this is food for thought?
Go get your copy of “nine, ten: A September 11 Story” today. It is well worth the read.
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