nine, ten:

   Nine, ten: by Nora Raleigh Baskin. This book is a fictional story which would be perfect those readers who don’t know what had happen on the memorable day, 9/11. It doesn’t start off right away when the first plane had hit the World Trade Center. It starts off by presenting each character in book, Sergio, Aimee, Will, and Naheed.

   Nine, ten: takes place in 2001 from the days 9/9-9/11. Switching back and forth from all 4 kids perspective. It starts off on how all 4 kids lives are going before the great tragedy happen, in 2 days. They’re all in different schools and live in different states and they all have their own problems, either with friends, family members, culture. But all of them have at least something in common, which you have to read this book to find out. We can all relate to how their lives are going in some way, but all their problems will soon change in a matter of 2 days, and all of them will be affected by what is going to happen on Sep 11, 2001 at 8:46 a.m. Throughout the whole book I have found that nine, ten: doesn’t stick with just one story, it goes back and forth to see each child’s perspective. My favorite part of the book is when one of the characters realize how everyone comes together to mourn the day 9/11. It really got to me, and I’m pretty sure others would too. According to the book “All she could see was a see of people, who could not be more different but could not be more the same, standing together. And what she could hear, releasing into the air with sounds of the flute, were the names of those who had died, in this very spot, remembered always, floating on the music of a warm September wind.” (Pg. 188) This quote means that everyone is different and everyone is same in different ways, but every had one thing in common which was the pride and respect in those who had died on September 11.

   The main characters are 4 kids who all have different story’s and perspectives to share. Aimee, Sergio, Will, and Naheed. Aimee is a new student at her new school in a new city and she’s missing her mom who has to fly away to New York on business. She does deal with some bullies and assumptions if her parents are getting a divorce, but she’ll soon fit in. Sergio, who lives in Brooklyn, is struggling to come to terms with the absentee father he hates and the grandmother he loves. There are some problems that goes on between he and his father, but he soon finds a friend that will distract him from his problems. Will’s father is gone too, killed in a car accident that left the family mourning. Will has his family to distract him, but he also has an old friend to help him get back to his feet. Naheed has never before felt uncomfortable about being Muslim, but at her new school, she’s getting funny looks because of the head scarf she wears. Even if her school life isn’t the best she does find somebody to be by her side. All 4 kids share something in common, they will soon be affected by the 9/11 attack and they will heal and mourn for those who had lost their lives on the day.

   I enjoyed reading this book, flipping each page all the way to the end. I enjoyed how the author had ended the book it was really touching and I’m sure all people can relate. This book is one of the books that can inform kids on what happened by reading it through a fictional story. Have you ever read any other 9/11 books? Would you like to recommend any of them to others? This book was easy to read, but didn’t exactly went straight to the point. In the beginning it  brought each character’s own story to the book. I have to give credit the the author she did really well on providing information and realistic perspectives from each character. I don’t think I’ve read any of her other books, but I’m sure I would probably read another book from her and I hope you do too, maybe even read this book! Have you ever read one of her books? If not there’s a hyperlink I left for you to know more about the author and her books. I really hope you decide to read this book, any of Nora’s books, or any of the other books I have reviewed on! But I really hope that you decide to just read books in general.

Get to know more about the author: http://www.norabaskin.com/