How to Talk to Kids about September 11: Book Tips for Parents of Young Children

Fireboat is a sensitive, sweet picture book with a strong story line that's good for young children. "A fireboat, launched in 1931, is retired after many years of fighting fires along the Hudson River, but is saved from being scrapped," according to the publisher, "and then is called into service again on September 11, 2001."

Teachers, of course, are familiar with this author. Maira Kalman's other kid's books include Smartypants (Pete in School), What Pete Ate from A-Z and Next Stop, Grand Central, as well as adult hits such as The Elements of Style Illustrated. Her artwork has appeared on the cover of The New Yorker. 

• Available in some Brooklyn Public Libraries
• For preschool to grade 3
• 48 pages
• Picture Puffin Books 

Available in hardcover and Kindle versions, this is a chronological account of the three September 11 attacks, with watercolor drawings. The book won a starred review from the School Library Journal, which said, "Brown's compelling narrative chronologically recounts the morning's events in a tone both straightforward and compassionate, without resorting to sensationalism."

• Available in many Brooklyn Public Libraries
• For grades 4 to 6
• 64 pages
• Publisher: Flash Point ( 2011),sold by Macmillan

 If you're looking to explain why the US was attacked and deal with some of the international political issues, then  Understanding September 11th: Answering Questions about the Attacks on America  attempts to address questions about Islam, terrorism and civil liberties at an age-appropriate level.

This book, written by Brooklyn resident and Time Magazine reporter, Mitch Frank, opens in a first-person tone that could either be reassuring, or not, to young readers.

Written in a Q&A format, the book gets a somewhat mixed review from Publishers Weekly which, nonetheless, concludes, "Readers may find here a useful framework for examining the possible motives for the terrorist attacks and the U.S. government's subsequent responses."

• Available in many Brooklyn Public Libraries
• For grades 7 and up 
• 136 pages
• Publisher: Viking, 2002
• Illustrations include photographs and map 

This is the Young Readers edition of the stunning, if disturbing, photo essay book about September 11, 2001, compiled from the photo archives of The New York Times. According to the Brooklyn Public Library Catalog, "Text, photographs, and illustrations from the New York Times section, "A Nation Challenged," record how the world was changed due to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States and their aftermath." Parents may want to borrow it from the library; school librarians may wish to purchase it.

• Available in many Brooklyn Public Libraries
• Grades 3-8
• Note: graphic photos of 9/11
• Publisher: Scholastic, 2002

This book is one of the first novels for middle-grade readers dealing with the 9/11 disasters. It focuses on the struggles of a young boy in dealing with the loss of his father in the World Trade Center attack. He searches for meaning in music lessons. The book gets both raves and mixed reviews, but as one of the only fictional treatments of this tough topic of parental death on 9/11 (and given that 3,000 people died in that attack)  it has its place on a September 11 bookshelf.

• Available in select Brooklyn Public Libraries
• For ages eight to ten
• 144 pages
• Publisher:Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006
     
  

The Brooklyn Public library carries about a dozen titles that introduce juvenile readers to Islam. Note that these books are not available in every branch, but only in select libraries. Parents and teachers of elementary school children will need to decide how to handle the cultural diversity discussion, of course.  Among the books on the BPL bookshelf:

• The genius of Islam: How Muslims Made The Modern World, written and illustrated by Bryn Barnard, published by Knopf,  2011
• The Sory of Islam by Rob Lloyd Jones  Usborne Publishers, 2007
• Islam by Jan  Thompson, published by Walrus Books, 2004
• Islam  by Philip Wilkinson published by Eyewitness Books, 2002