In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers: The Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months and Years after the 9/11 Attacks, written by Don Brown, reviewed by Bethany Bratney

Summary:  This trim volume of graphic nonfiction beautifully illustrates the events of 9/11 and the lengthy and far-reaching aftermath of those events. The author focuses much of the attention on the site of the towers, starting with the moments of impact, the towers falling, and the immediate rescue efforts that began. He does an outstanding job of highlighting specific individuals who contributed to those rescue efforts or to the collective understanding of the events of the tragedy. In the second half of the book, some of the attention of the narrative diverts to other responses and reactions to 9/11, including President George W. Bush’s reaction to the American people, the actions taken by uninvolved planes that were in the air during the time of attack, military response directed toward Afghanistan, the establishment of the Guantanamo Bay Military Prison, the clean up efforts that continued for eight months following the attacks, and the eventual decision to rebuild One World Trade Center. Don Brown includes an afterword and pages of statistics about 9/11 gathered in the years since 2001, and provides a lengthy list of source notes.

Straight Talk for Librarians:  This short, accessible volume will be an essential resource and an incredible eye-opener for today’s students who were not yet born on September 11, 2001. The book provides excellent background on the major events of the day and the situations that those not present at the time may not know, including the attacks themselves, details about the group that claimed responsibility, and the responses of the President and the American people. Impressively, for a graphic text under 125 pages, it includes an incredible amount of detail on a wide variety of more specific or minor details that may provide new insight to readers familiar with the major events of 9/11 and will surely paint a much more detailed and nuanced picture for those readers who are only learning about 9/11 for the first time. The intensity of the subject matter, along with the graphic novel style text and the somber nature of Brown’s artwork, make this a better choice for middle or high school students. This is a fantastic work of graphic nonfiction worthy of a spot in any secondary school library.