Ten Years Ago: Remembering September 11, 2001

• The story of how a small village in Kenya gives 14 sacred cows to America, to help the nation heal after the events of September 11^th.

• The 2003 Caldecott winner describes the daring actions of acrobat Philippe Petit, who walked a high wire strung between the towers in 1974.

• The story of how the John J. Harvey fireboat came out of retirement to help contain the fires at Ground Zero after the attack on September 11^th.

• Winter’s fictionalized account of the events of September 11th and the days that followed are shaped by her experiences that week, as a resident of New York.

• Over 20 children’s and young adult writers contributed to this collection of essays and reflections, poetry and short stories.

• A chronology of the events on September 11^th, told from the perspective of four different individuals in Manhattan.

• This collection of memoirs was compiled from the oral histories conducted by students at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, who witnessed the events unfold just steps from Ground Zero.

• Mordicai Gerstein’s Caldecott-winning picture book The Man Who Walked Between the Towers offers a unique and profoundly inspiring presentation of the “Twin Towers” and their role in American history. Share Philippe Petit’s daring actions with your students to offer a view of the towers as an awesome human accomplishment in a city that symbolizes humanity’s desire to dream about reaching greater heights. Older students may be able to begin to understand that the city of New York has symbolized freedom and new opportunity to people around the world for centuries.

• 14 Cows for America describes the gift of 14 cows made by a Maasai tribe in Kenya as an expression of sympathy to the people of America. Read this picture book aloud and invite your students to think about the various ways that people seek to provide empathy and comfort to people who have experienced grief or difficulties. Ask students to draw and/or write about ways that they have or could provide comfort to someone in need.

• Oral Histories. Your intermediate students weren’t born, and your middle school students weren’t walking ten years ago, and most likely none of them have memories of that day. Have students interview their parents, guardians, grandparents, or neighbors about what they remember from that day. Have students compare and contrast the different memories, and create a class book.

• Writing about Heroism. As tragic as the events were that day, they brought out the best in people. Who were the heroes of that day? What makes someone a hero? We often applaud the courageous efforts of the firefighers, police, and paramedics, but many of them refuse to view themselves as heroes because they feel they were just doing their job. And what about the ordinary citizens who performed heroic acts on that day? Use several of the books listed above to discuss these questions, but then go a step further and have students also use the books as mentor texts for writing narrative accounts, poems, or essays about heroism.

• The Rising. Play your students one or several of the songs from Bruce Springsteen’s album The Rising, which came out just before the first anniversary of the attacks. You might want to compare and contrast the lyrics of two songs, to consider the ways in which Springsteen’s music and lyrics merge to create images of grief and hope. You might want to play “Empty Sky,” “The Rising,” “You’re Missing,” or “Into the Fire.” You can find the songs on iTunes at: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-rising/id192901525 .

• “The Names.” Read the Billy Collins poem “The Names,” a poem first published in The New York Times on the first anniversary of the attacks. What do those names evoke? How do images work in concert with the names? You can find the full text at: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/poems/july-dec02/collins_9-6.html.

• 911 The Book of Help. Have students, in pairs or small groups, read excerpts from 911 The Book of Help. Have students compare and contrast the different experiences represented, and discuss how the genre each author selected helped shape mood and theme. Students may then want to capture their own thoughts about this tenth anniversary, using a variety of modalities and genres, and assemble a class book either digitally or in print.

Filed under: Book Lists, Classroom & Curricular Ideas, Nonfiction Chapter Books, Picture Books