Books About September 11, 2001

compiled by Kathleen Carpenter, Editor, Teachers.Net Gazette

A book for children:

From the publisher:

The beloved author of the Magic Tree House series has written a tribute to firefighters, past and present. We invite you to meet America’s first urban folk hero!

In New York's Bravest, beloved author Mary Pope Osborne takes young children to 19th-century New York City and introduces them to the legendary Mose Humphreys--eight feel tall and able to swim the Hudson River in two strokes. Award-winning illustrators Steve Johnson and LouFancher’s bold paintings of New York capture Mose, with his stovepipe hat and flaming red hair, rushing into burning buildings . . . until that fateful night when a fire raged till dawn. This book is dedicated to the 343 New York City firefighters who gave their lives to save others on September 11, 2001.

Books For Adults:

From Kathleen Carpenter, Editor, Teachers.Net Gazette:

The author is a former NYC firefighter who returned to Ground Zero to assist and support his friends and colleagues, many of whom were lost.

The book includes dozens of first person accounts by firefighters who were on the scene and lists all emergency personnel who died that day.

I found the book informative, gripping, and touching in a way that only an eyewitness, insider account could be. Dennis Smith's love for his "brothers" in the fire department makes this book more than an accurate account, it is a tribute to those who died on and before September 11, 2002, to the survivors, and to all who serve in the future.

The author is a NYC firefighter who survived the collapse of the north tower on Sept. 11, 2001. The book lists the names of the 343 firefighters who perished that day.

From Booklist:

The headquarters building of American Express was across the street from the World Trade Center, and 11 employees died in the towers. With this book, the company honors the firefighters who died trying to save those 11 and the others. Near the bottom of its pages, beginning on the front endpapers, the names of the lost run in a single line that continues to the back endpapers...[includes photographs] and artwork and letters that children sent to the stations.

This book is a powerful collection of first-person stories told by female firefighters, police officers, paramedics, EMTs, and others who responded to the events of September 11 and its aftermath. Women at Ground Zero provides a unique perspective on the events of that terrible day through the eyes of women rescuers who risked their lives to save others. Through their heartbreaking and inspiring stories, the voices of female rescue workers and their contributions at Ground Zero are finally heard.

Like many people in the wake of the September 11 tragedy, Michael Feldschuh felt helpless and frustrated and wanted to do something.

Immensely moved by the impromptu shrines and fragile remembrances all over the city, Feldschuh, an amateur photographer and Wall Street professional, thought of something to do. He quickly initiated the September 11 Photo Project. Within weeks, his idea to create a space for the community to collaboratively, in his words, "bear witness" to the horrific events, was open to the public. A huge donated space in SoHo, mere blocks from the World Trade Center site, served as a gallery. Over the next few months, more than 40,000 people visited the gallery to look, read, participate, and mourn. Thousands of people contributed photographs, text, and collages. This book is a collection of images from this important social project. Its proceeds will be used to support a traveling exhibition of the project and the New York City Firefighters Burn Center Foundation. Of course the images are heart-wrenching: handwritten notes remembering missing loved ones, messages written in dust at the site, clouds of smoke, frightened faces.

The pictures--some taken with disposable cameras, with accompanying text written on paper scraps--are immensely personal, yet the images capture the devastated mood and feelings of a nation. --J.P. Cohen

This book chronicles not only the devastation of that day, but also the valor and heroism of thosewho saved thousands of lives. Not one of these photographs has been published before. On top of that, these images offer a vantage point no ordinary photographers could obtain:They were taken by members of the New York City Police Department, uniformed and civilian, who were on the scene moments after the first plane hit and who were behind the scenes during the entire rescue and recovery effort.

All royalties earned by the publication to the New York City Police Foundation, Inc.

The culmination of hundreds of interviews and months of investigation, Among the Heroes is the definitive story of the courageous men and women aboard Flight 93, and of the day that forever changed the way Americans view the world and themselves.

From Booklist:

By the editors of Life magazine, a tribute to the fallen and the survivors, an array of very moving photographs, particularly a sequence taken by an evacuee on his long way down and out of one of the towers. Also, personal and poignant stories of survivors, family members of those who were lost, and rescue workers.