** spoiler alert ** Nine, Ten was well-written and I liked it. At the beginning of the book, it felt like an I Survived story with less action and for older readers. The story had excellent diversity and a variety of perspectives from different parts of America. What I didn’t like was the lack of focus on the day itself and its aftermath. A majority of Nine, Ten was about the lives of the children on the days leading up to September 11. Then, after describing the tragedy, it skipped to a year later. I felt like the author lost a good teaching opportunity by skipping the aftermath.
SPOILER ALERT
Also, I thought the author should have had at least one person in the story lose someone. As close as the four kids were to the attacks that day, I thought the story would have been more realistic and powerful if it described the losses through one child’s eyes.
However, Baskin at least addressed that choice in her afterword. Still, I felt that it did her audience a disservice - like she may have thought that they couldn’t handle it or something similar.
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Overall, it was a book that I think children will enjoy reading, and they will learn from it, too.
Angie M, Librarian
Emily H, Librarian
