6 Good High School Books about 9/11

Joe, a senior in high school, has just enrolled in the National Guard when 9/11 happens. Instead of scheduled training on weekends and in the summer, Joe’s service consists of a one-year deployment in Afghanistan after he graduates. 

Baheer, who lives with his family under Taliban rule, hears about the 9/11 attacks on a contraband radio and fears the repercussions for Afghanistan.

Reedy and Arash’s novel is told from both young men’s perspectives in alternating chapters that eventually intertwine (not unlike All American Boys). 

Joe, who arrives in Afghanistan ready for revenge against the people who attacked his country, learns he is there to serve the Afghan people, themselves victims of the Taliban, and he must struggle to overcome his own anger and prejudice. Baheer, whose family is wary of the American military presence, sees new opportunities in his future: jobs for Afghans who speak English, freedom from oppressive Taliban rule, and education for both boys and girls.

While a bit heavy-handed in parts, the novel is interesting and fast-paced, and it enables students to better understand not only the US military response to the 9/11 attacks but also the difference between the Taliban and the people of Afghanistan, many of whom were horrified by the terrorist attacks. 

What really makes the novel powerful, however, is that it is based on Reedy’s and Arash’s own experiences: they met when Reedy was stationed in Afghanistan, and he is open in the author’s note about his shame at the prejudiced views he held when he arrived. Reading Arash’s author’s note about his work in education makes it clear Baheer’s viewpoints align with his own. We’re glad these men decided to share their stories.

We’ve read and enjoyed quite a few books by Julie Buxbaum (we posted about one here). Her stories for young adults include plenty of drama and angst to draw readers in as well as real-life experiences packed with emotional resonance. Hope and Other Punch Lines applies this same combination to the events of September 11, 2001.

In the narrative, Abbi Hope Goldstein is famous from a photograph taken when she was a baby: a daycare worker holds “Baby Hope,” who wears a birthday crown and holds a red balloon, as the South Tower collapses in the background. (Side note: The photograph is fictional, invented for the purposes of the story.)

“Baby Hope” has become a symbol who evokes an emotional response in those who recognize her. Now, the summer before turning seventeen, she’s desperate for anonymity and increasingly worried about some concerning health symptoms.

Abbi plans to spend her summer volunteering at Knights Day Camp, surrounded by four-year-olds who aren’t likely to recognize her and don’t care that she is “Baby Hope.” Unfortunately, Noah Stern is thrilled to find out “Baby Hope” is working alongside him at the camp because he believes she can help him answer the potentially life-altering questions he has about that day.

As the pair begins to investigate the history of the famous photograph, we see the lasting impact the day has had on the men and women who experienced it firsthand, told through an engaging story.

“Beautiful” seems like the wrong word to describe this graphic novel, given the horror it depicts, yet the illustrations are beautiful, portraying the gray, dusty streets of New York and “the Pile,” the term first responders used to refer to the rubble from the collapsed towers, in a way that resonates for those of us who remember the events and breaks our hearts all over again as we imagine the people trapped below.

Brown’s graphic novel only briefly covers the events of 9/11 itself, focusing instead on the aftermath, particularly the efforts of the rescue workers who risked their own lives to rescue survivors and clear the ruins of the towers from the streets of downtown Manhattan. Brown takes us to Afghanistan and Pakistan with the military, and as weeks, months, and years pass, we see the devastating and long-lasting impact the tragedy has had on many Americans. 

Brown’s note at the end of the book extends the events up to 2021, and the reports of men and women diagnosed with life-threatening health problems caused by breathing the toxic fumes at the Pile hit especially hard after pages of illustrations of these brave men and women seeking to rescue their fellow Americans.

The graphic novel is an easy read but presents an important perspective on the lasting impact of 9/11 and the sacrifice many Americans unknowingly made that day.

As 16-year-old Kyle Donahue flees New York City over the Brooklyn Bridge on the morning of 9/11, he encounters a girl wearing angel wings, covered in ash, and precariously perched on the edge of the bridge.

Kyle convinces the young girl to come home with him, only to discover that she has amnesia and cannot tell him her name, much less anything about her home or history.

Kyle’s father, an NYPD officer, is out at the Pile, and Kyle’s mother and sister are desperately trying to get a flight home from a trip to Los Angeles. As Kyle seeks to make sense of everything that has happened to his city, learn what he can about the mysterious girl, and care for his Uncle Mark, who is recovering from a recent accident, all he can do is wait to hear from his parents and hope that they are okay.

The sweet novel is about family, coming of age, and first love, and while the characters deal with unimaginable tragedy, the story is ultimately hopeful. What we particularly enjoyed is the way the novel captured the fear, uncertainty, and waiting that the majority of New Yorkers lived out in the days and weeks after the attacks.

While not written for young adults and more likely to appeal to older readers, Graff’s oral history of 9/11 is phenomenal. We discovered it when we used his 2019 Atlantic article “On 9/11, Luck Meant Everything” as part of a thematic unit on destiny and fate with our tenth grade students.

Graff’s oral history is told almost entirely in direct quotation from people who lived through the day and from official documents and news articles.

He begins in the East Coast airports with interviews from the ticket agents who unknowingly ushered terrorists onto planes and moves through the day, providing eyewitness accounts from Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and the field in Pennsylvania where passengers heroically took down United Flight 93.

We hear from people who were with President Bush, men and women who survived being trapped in the stairwells and beneath rubble when the towers collapsed, Pentagon employees trapped inside the building, and a wide variety of other citizens connected to the events of the day.

The stories are heartbreaking and horrifying, and as Californians whose understanding of the day largely came from news media, we gained a stronger understanding of the events that happened and the impact they had on those who lived through it.

We recommend this one for you and your students (though do be aware that some descriptions are tough to read), and it would make either a great First Chapter Friday recommendation or rich source material for in-class close reading activities.

Mafi’s novel only mentions 9/11 a couple of times, but it offers readers an important perspective: that of Muslim Americans in the year following the terrorist attacks.

Shirin, a 16-year-old Persian girl who chooses to wear hijab to school every day despite the negative attention it draws her, is starting over at yet another new school.

She’s used to the hate-filled comments (at worst) and the ignorant questions (at best) from her new classmates, but what she’s not used to is the attention from Ocean James, a classmate who, despite some awkward fumbling, genuinely seems interested in her.

As Shirin tries to wrap her head around the idea that Ocean might genuinely like her and begins to develop her own feelings for him, she joins the breakdancing club her brother Yavid starts, honing a new skill and befriending the other team members.

As the events of the novel progress, Shirin has to grapple with the idea that, perhaps, not everyone is as awful as her experiences have led her to assume they are, and that she might need to let her guard down to experience what life has to offer, even if it means being vulnerable.

On one level, Shirin’s story is a teen romance, but it is also an opportunity for readers to learn about and gain empathy for the racism many Muslims have faced and still face in post-9/11 America.

Note: While the story itself is appropriate for a range of ages, the novel does use quite a bit of profanity (including in the first chapter), so keep this in mind when making your recommendations or selecting it for First Chapter Friday