The Man Who Walked Between The Towers

Title: The Man Who Walked Between The Towers
Author: Mordicai Gerstein

Summary: The Man Who Walked Between The Towers is a retelling of an actual event that took place in 1974. Phillipe Pettite, tightrope walker extraordinaire, looked up into the skyline of New York and decided it would be his ultimate dream to perform on a wire suspended between the roofs of the World Trade Center. Pettite with the help of his friends accomplished the dream with the help of some friends and was arrested immediately after the performance. He was sentenced to perform for children in New York's Central Park.

My Opinion: When the towers first appeared in the book, I got that feeling. You know that gut wrenching feeling you get when you are reminded of 9/11. I immediately flipped to the inside cover of the book and was astonished that it had been written after the attack. But I quickly dove back in because of how beautiful the illustrations were. I felt a sense of pride seeing the building sky over the rest of the skyline once again. The story was so outrageously great, that I thought it was fictional until after I read the inside cover once I completed the book. It carried out the normal life of a childrens' book until the last two pages when it snapped from the story of Phillipe Pettite, to showing that the towers were no more. It did not explain why they were gone, just simply that they were. But it also stated how there memory will live on. I feel that this book is an incredibly great resource. Social Studies teachers from grades K-12 could use this book to stir up a civil conversation of what happened that day. The paintings and writing were really tasteful and I urge people of all ages to give this book a read. If not to learn something, to remember.