Towers Falling

Name: Towers Falling
Brand: Hachette Audio
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.56 (9 reviews)
Author: Jewell Parker Rhodes
ISBN: 9781478909699

Author: Jewell Parker Rhodes

Narrator: Jewell Parker Rhodes

Unabridged: 4 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers

Published: 07/12/2016

Categories: Children's Fiction, Historical Stories, Children's Social Themes

Synopsis

From award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes comes a powerful novel set fifteen years after the 9/11 attacks in a classroom of students who cannot remember the event but live through the aftermath of its cultural shift.
When her fifth-grade teacher hints that a series of lessons about home and community will culminate with one big answer about two tall towers once visible outside their classroom window, Dèja can't help but feel confused. She sets off on a journey of discovery, with new friends Ben and Sabeen by her side. But just as she gets closer to answering big questions about who she is, what America means, and how communities can grow (and heal), she uncovers new questions, too. Like, why does Pop get so angry when she brings up anything about the towers?

Award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes tells a powerful story about young people who weren't alive to witness this defining moment in history, but begin to realize how much it colors their every day.

About Jewell Parker Rhodes

Dr. Jewell Parker Rhodes is the author of six adult novels: Voodoo Dreams, Magic City, Douglass’ Women, Season, Moon, and Hurricane, as well as the memoir Porch Stories: A Grandmother’s Guide to Happiness and two writing guides, Free within Ourselves: Fiction Lessons for Black Authors and The African American Guide to Writing and Publishing Nonfiction. Jewell is also the author of seven books for youth, including the New York Times bestsellers Ghost Boys and Black Brother, Black Brother. She has won the American Book Award, the Black Caucus of the American Library Award for Literary Excellence, and the Jane Addams Peace Association Book Award. Jewell is the founding artistic director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing and narrative studies professor and Virginia G. Piper endowed chair at Arizona State University. She was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Carnegie-Mellon University. She lives in Seattle, Washington.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Amy on June 13, 2016

This is an important book. I just didn't happen to love it. Reasons this book is important: (1) It's important because it covers 9/11 in an upper elementary +middle school friendly way. Instead of taking place in 2001, the book takes place Brooklyn in present day, as Deja's teachers are gearing up f......more

Goodreads review by emily on July 13, 2016

My full review of Towers Falling is now on my blog, BlueEyedBiblio!!......more

Goodreads review by Karen on July 18, 2016

I heard Jewell Parker Rhodes interviewed on NPR a couple of weeks ago and was excited to read this book for two reasons. First, I teach high school English and am always on the lookout for new YA Literature for my students. Second, I was living in NYC on September 11, 2001 and have a deep personal c......more

Goodreads review by Abby on March 29, 2016

I love you, Deja. ** Nobody tells kids anything. At least that's how Deja begins to feel when her class at her new school starts studying the attacks of September 11. Even though she has grown up in New York, Deja knows nothing about what happened. Other kids do, even kids who didn't grow up in New Y......more

Goodreads review by Leigh on October 07, 2017

Hundreds more reviews like this one at Mrs. ReaderPants. REVIEW: Oh, the mixed feelings I have about this book! Overall, I think this is a very needed title to have in school and public libraries. It isn't easy to explain the horror and significance of 9-11 to someone who wasn't even alive at that ti......more

Quotes

Praise for Towers Falling:

"History made personal--and what a person! Deja's voice is real and memorable, her compelling story one of hope unmarred by sentimentality."
—Linda Sue Park, Newbery Medalist and New York Times bestselling author

"This tender retelling of tragedy is a solid vessel to help young readers understand the gravity of 9/11 and how it touches all Americans, no matter where we come from. "
—Kirkus Reviews

"This is a welcome contribution to children's literature."—School Library Journal

"Rhodes approaches a complex, painful topic with insight and grace, providing context to an event distant to the book's audience."
—Publishers Weekly