Towers Falling by Jewel Parker Rhodes

I have to admit that I wasn't sure if I was ready to read a book about 9/11 15 years after it happened. Which is why I decided to read Towers Falling - a novel that takes place 15 years after 9/11.

It's 2016 and ten year-old African Jamaican American Dèja Barnes has a lot on her plate at the moment.  Her family is living in one room without a window in a homeless shelter.  Her father is sick, both physically and emotionally, but she doesn't know what's actually wrong with him.  Her mother works all day and more if she can, while Dèja takes care of her younger brother Ray and sister Leda.  On top of that, she is starting fifth grade at a new school - Brooklyn Collective Elementary.

But to her surprise, Dèja likes her new school and her new teacher, Miss Garcia.  She even makes two friends - Mexican American Ben, an artistic boy who has just moved from Arizona after his parent's divorce, and the very friendly, seemingly always happy Sabeen, a proud Muslim Turkish American.

The fifth grade curriculum for the year is focused on the past and how it connects to the present and future.  After exploring ways in which people connect to each other, the students go on to learn about how events do, too, particularly one event, one that Dèja knows nothing about - September 11, 2001.  One day, during a study get together at Ben's house, he shows Dèja a video of that day and what happened.   Dèja has never wanted to think about the past when her life was better and her family was happy, and now, she doesn't want to think about what she saw on that video either.  After all, it's ancient history as far as she's concerned.

Still, when she gets home and blurts out that she didn't know about the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center being hit by two planes, her father decides to take her out of Brooklyn Collective, his daughter does not need to go to the kind of school that would teach her about that terrible event. But, Dèja wonders, why would he have such a strong, emotional reaction to her learning about 9/11? Does it have something to do with her dad's being physically and emotionally sick?
Confused and curious, Dèja is determined to find out what is really going on.

In Towers Falling, Jewel Parker Rhodes approaches the events of 9/11 slowly and carefully, so the reader has time to digest Dèja's experiences just as she does.  After all, this is a character-driven coming-of-age novel and Dèja is in the driver's seat as we see her go from being completely ignorant about what happened on 9/11 to the realization that it has impacted the lives of everyone in the Barnes family every day since, as well as the lives of all Americans.  In fact, the whole novel made me think of William Faulkner's words "The past is never dead.  It's not even past."

As a character, Dèja was great.  She is spunky, angry, combative, inquisitive, friendly, and caring.  I really liked the diversity in her school and how she fit in so easily, even though her family's circumstances were so very different than her friend's Ben and Sabeen and the other students.  I also like that Rhodes shows the reader that, while their families are better off financially,  Ben and Sabeen's lives are not without problems, despite how things look on the surface.  Most importantly, as Dèja learns about how she connects to the past, she also learns what it means to be an American, connected to other Americans.

This is a sensitively and cautiously written novel about a family in crisis facing the events that precipitated that crisis.  Like so many people that were at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Dèja's father is dealing with some serious problems - guilt, respiratory distress, and a critical case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that makes it impossible for him to move forward and help himself, and Rhodes has dealt with these issues in a very age-appropriate way.

In addition, there is no bullying, as we have almost come to expect in a novel about a kid who is different from the other kids in the new school, so that was refreshing.  But, be warned, there is some violence in the description of the 9/11 video Dèja watches that may not be appropriate for sensitive readers.

Ironically, I was teaching New York history to 10 year-olds in the Bronx on 9/11.  When we heard the news, it was hard to comprehend at first, but as the day went by, reality hit us all.  It was an unforgettable day but one that I think a lot of kids today, like Dèja, may not know about, making Towers Falling an excellent addition to what will be an important 9/11 body of work.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley

You can find information about the 9/11 Memorial HERE and if you are ever in NYC, be sure to go down to Ground Zero and see it for yourself (bring tissues).

Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai

When the Taliban first started to change things in Afghanistan, people welcomed them.  At the time, Fadi Nurzai and his family - father Habib, mother Zafoona, older sister Noor and young sister Mariam - were living in the United States.  Fadi's father had an American PhD and spoke English, and believing he could help rebuild Afghanistan with the Taliban, he moved his family back to Kabul.  But it didn't take long for the Taliban to begin suppressing the Afghan people and when they approached Habib, asking to join them, he knew it was time to leave.

One night, the family finds themselves waiting for a truck that will take then across the border into Pakistan, then on to the United States.  11 year-old Fadi's job is to hold on to Mariam, now 6, and make sure she gets on the truck safely. Suddenly, there is a swarm of other people trying to get on the truck, too, and Mariam drops her precious Gulmina, an old Barbie doll wearing a bright pink burka. When she tries to retrieve it, she lets go of Fadi's hand just as Habib pulls him onto the truck, which speeds away as the Taliban chases it, leaving Mariam behind.

Consumed with guilt, Fadi soon finds himself in a Fremont, CA middle school.  His mother, who had been ill in Kabul, has gotten worse because of losing Mariam; to help the family out, Noor has taken a job at a McDonald's until high school starts, and Habib, despite that American PhD, is driving a cab. And there are many people in Afghanistan are looking Mariam, but so far, no luck.

Fadi, who loved to take photographs with his dad in Kabul before it was banned, finds his way into a photo club and a new friend named Ahn Hong.  When it is announced that there is to be a photography contest in which first prize is a photo safari and one of the places the winner can choose to go is India, it is like a dream come true for Fadi.   He immediately makes plans to win, get to India, then Pakistan and find Mariam., who the family now knows has made it to Peshawar.

But then, on September 11, 2001, terrorists from al-Qaeda fly two planes into the World Trade Center, and one into the Pentagon and everything suddenly changes.  Now, Fadi finds himself the target of school bullies who think he is Muslim (he is actually Pukhtun) and decide he needs to pay for what was done.  And pay he does.

Between bullies, the Taliban, al-Qaeda and the guilt he feels about losing Mariam, Fadi knows he need to talk to someone and take responsibility for his sister before he is eaten up by guilt.  He knows it the honorable thing to do, but somehow Fadi just can't talk about what happened that night in Afghanistan yet.  Meanwhile, they are still looking for Mariam and Fadi desperately needs to win that photography contest so he and his father can rescue her.

Shooting Kabul was, to say the least, a page-turner.  I found Fadi to be a very likable character and thought his relationship with his father was wonderfully touching.  Noor is a typical teenager who usually wants nothing to do with her brother, but still comes through for him when he needs it.  In fact, the theme of family is strong throughout the story, as important as their religion is to them, and family members are very connected to each other, and that includes their very supportive extended family.

The other dominate theme is racism and the spike in race-related incidents after 9/11 towards anyone who looks like they might be Muslim.  Because of that, here is name calling and some violence in the novel.  I thought the example of Mr. Singh, the ice-cream man who is a Sikh, being beaten up by people who assume if you wear a turban, you must be Muslim was very telling  I remember riding the bus to school in the Bronx and everyday there was a man, a Sikh, on it going to work.  After 9/11, I didn't see him for about a week, then he was back, black and blue and wearing a button that said he was a Sikh.  I can't tell you how sad that made me.

Shooting Kabul is an excellent companion book to read while studying contemporary American history since it manages to make a very complicated period of time understandable for young readers. Habib's explanation to Mariam about what is going on in Afghanistan and why they must leave requires no prior knowledge of the situation to understand what he tells her.  And as the story unfolds, things become clearer for today's middle grader who might not completely understand why there is still so much animosity towards Muslims and anyone who looks like one in this country.

A Reading Group Guide is available from the publisher, Simon & Schuster, HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was purchased for my personal library