911: The Book of Help

An impressive cast of more than 20 children's book authors donated work to this highly personal, often affecting roundup of essays, short stories and poems inspired by the events of September 11th. Organized into four sections from "Healing" to "Reacting and Recovering," the pieces range from related events triggered by the New York tragedy to writers' evocations of the horrific images they viewed that morning. Arnold Adoff draws a correlation to King's assassination in Memphis ("Souls rise/ without reason long before their reasonable times"); David Paterson (son of fellow contributor Katherine Paterson) recounts perhaps the most immediate connection to the terrorist attacks as he relates his experience at Ground Zero on September 13 with shovel in hand to help clear the rubble. In a candid entry, Walter Dean Myers recalls watching a Middle Eastern man in London cheering the loss of American lives: "He is my enemy because those who think like he does have brought violence and hatred to my door, and to the doors of those I love." Perhaps Susan Cooper (who heard the roar of a fighter plane in New York City on 9/11 and recalled the bombs that fell on her London neighborhood during WWII) best sums up the collection's underlying message: "But the opposite of terror is hope, and... hope can drive out fear." Other contributors to this strong collection include Avi, Sharon Creech, Nikki Giovanni, Margaret Mahy and Naomi Shihab Nye; Chris Raschka provides an evocative cover and interior pen-and-inks for each section opener. Ages 12-up. (Aug.)

FYI:The publisher will contribute a portion of the proceeds of this book to the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund.