Understanding September 11th, Answering Questions about the Attacks on America by Mitch FRANK

by Mitch Frank

Excellent book for the young kids to learn about 911. Chocked full of facts & sensitive explanations of that horrible day. Recommended. Well written for an emotional topic.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Yamato · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a great overall synopsis of the events and the history leading up to the events.

I would recommend that this is the starting point to understand the truth behind 9/11. It covers many topics as an overview, each need to be explored in more detail.

It linked together many other books I have read around the topic, most notably Ghost Wars by Steve Coll.

[Cathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm very upset about this book. The title is very misleading. It went more on the back story and reasonings behind the attack, more of the religious and cultural differences. I think if the title is different I would have had a different expectation of this book.

[Kelly Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stars: 3.75

[Rena · Rating 3 out of 5]

During our non-fiction unit, I read about the 9/11 terrorism attack on America called Understanding September 11th - Answering Questions About the Attacks on America by Mitch Frank. This book was made to inform its readers about what happened on 9/11 and who orchestrated this attack to happen. The problem mainly identified in this book is terrorism attacks on America. The author explained exactly what happened on September 11th, and who was behind it. Then he backed up who was behind it with all the evidence that pointed it towards them. I found this book very interesting because although I knew about the tragic story of 9/11 I learned so much more about it from this book. I only thought Osama Bin Laden was behind it, I didn’t know how he got the planes to crash, I didn’t know there was a third plane, and many more details about what happened. Overall, this book was very informative and I enjoyed learning about this sad day in history.
The vocabulary in this book was very simple however not easy. The information the author was explaining was very interesting. The wording that he used was easy to understand. Although I did like the author’s style of reading I felt the book was a little repetitive, as if he thought the reader didn’t understand the information he gave when they read it the first time. I also enjoyed how instead of just naming who crashed the planes he explained how they figured out it was them, how they did it, and why. It wasn’t just one long list of facts. This book is biased because the author is American so his point of view is showing that Al Qaeda is bad. If the author was part of the terrorist group or Muslim they would most likely have a different point of view.
I would definitely recommend this book to everybody over 9 years old. Kids under 10 I wouldn’t recommend it too because the information about terrorism may be too heavy and they may not understand some of the vocabulary. Once they become older and more mature to understand this issue, I believe this is a great book to read to learn a lot about the attack on 9/11 and think it is very interesting too. It is important to learn about terrorism because kids should be educated about what is happening in the world, because it can affect us too.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first chapter of the book explain how ordinary the day was on 9/11. It describes a regular day with people heading of to work. Suddenly, the first plane hit and a plain and simple day turned into one of the most trajic days in our nations history.

(new review 11/10/09)
Understaind September 11th describes everything behind September 11. To start off, the book gives the names and some backround information on the terrorists who took part in hijacking, and later crashing the planes into the Twin Towers. As previously stated the book also describes just how ordinary of a day it was until disaster struck. Most of the people in the New York City area where on trains, busses and subways on there way to work. The people working in the towers sat down at there desk and said hello to everyone in there office just like they had done the day before.

As the book proceeds, it reveals the how ordinary the people were who died. They were buisness men and women, coaches, moms , dads, brothers, sisters and even small children! This really enforced in me that no matter who you are, how much money you have or how old you are, violence can still take place at your expense.

[Mary Raccuia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Understanding September 11th is a great way for students 7th grade through college to read about the September 11th attacks. The author, a NY Times reporter explains what happened leading up to the attacks and why the attackers hate Americans and Western society .I would recommend this book to any HS Social Studies teacher to use when discussing the events of September 11th and terrorism attacks.

[Ksenya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read part of this book, and it's really good, the part that I have read explains how and why the terrorists attacked on the U.S. It even shows pictures of some of the attackers! I hope to finish it sometime, It's more of a reference book than a novel.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I REALLY lIKE this book. i cant say i enjoyed it because how can you enjoy something so sad but i really learned a lot form this book. i don't think that i would have read it if it were not on my summer reading list but I'm so glad i did because i never understood what happen that day.

[Kaylapryz119]

i think that i have learned more about 9/11/01 because this book has told me in detail about what happened.

[Maydi · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved the since i am also interested in the genrea and i relly what top know more about september 11th

[Anthony Sanchez]

It was okay

[Anshul]

ok