Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
Towers Falling (Little, Brown and Company, 2016) by Jewell Parker Rhodes is such a good book. Kids born after 9/11 don’t know the stories and don’t know why they should care.
Fifth grader Dèja is having enough trouble in her life without worrying about something that happened before she was born. She’s starting a new school, she and her family are living in a shelter, and Pop won’t get a job. How can Dèja’s new teacher expect her to write about her summer vacation when her family has never had a vacation? How can Dèja fit in when all she knows is Brooklyn and not the stuff in Manhattan which the class can see from their window? And how can something that isn’t there anymore affect any of the kids?
This is a moving and well-done story. Jewell is the author of Ninth Ward, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and Sugar, winner of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award–I wouldn’t be surprised to find Towers Falling wins awards, too! She’s written many other books as well. For more details check out her website.
