Teaching children about 9/11

Wednesday, September 11 marked the 12th anniversary of 9/11.  Many of the students who frequent our Library, those in middle school, were too young to remember the actual day. They were shown a movie as part of a class and afterwards many told us they were “freaked out!”  One 7th grader said that the movie was too upsetting and she didn’t like having those horrible scenes replaying in her mind. “I just know I’m going to have nightmares like forever.”

While it is important for our children to learn about historic events that shaped us, maybe the best way to introduce something like 9/11, something of that magnitude, would be best shared using a book.

The best book for children grades 3 and up is

America is Under Attack: The Day the Towers Fell by Don Brown.
The narration moves chronologically through the morning: from the plane hijackings to the crashes at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in the field in Pennsylvania; from the rescue operations to the collapse of the buildings. What I love most about this book is that instead of using actual photos, the book is populated with Brown’s vivid watercolor illustrations which capture the emotions of that day, allowing children to absorb the information from a safe distance. We want our children to grow up happy and eager to face their world, not the opposite.

Other great books that show the healing side of the event include:

14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy, in collaboration with Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah
    “A young man studying in the United States when the World Trade Center attacks occurred, returns to his homeland of Kenya and after relating the story to the Maasai of his village they present a gift to the American diplomat from Nairobi for the grieving American people.”
 

Fireboat: the heroic adventures of the John J. Harvey by Maira Kalman.
“A fireboat, launched in 1931, is retired after many years of fighting fires along the Hudson River, but is saved from being scrapped and then called into service again on September 11, 2001.”




 


The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein
“This 2004 Caldecott Medal winner is a lyrical evocation of Philippe Petit's 1974 tightrope walk between the World Trade Center towers.”

Children are growing up too fast, being fed books and movies where the subject matter is far beyond their emotional development. Treat them like the children they are and slowly introduce these topics in a gentle, loving way. 



Click here to read another point of view on sharing 9/11 with children.