Falling Towers

From award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes comes a powerful novel set fifteen years after the 9/11 attacks in a classroom of students who cannot remember the event but live through the aftermath of its cultural shift. When her fifth-grade teacher hints that a series of lessons about home and community will culminate with one big answer about two tall towers once visible outside their classroom window, Dèja can't help but feel confused. She sets off on a journey of discovery, with new friends Ben and Sabeen by her side. But just as she gets closer to answering big questions about who she is, what America means, and how communities can grow (and heal), she uncovers new questions, too. Like, why does Pop get so angry when she brings up anything about the towers? Award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes tells a powerful story about young people who weren't alive to witness this defining moment in history, but begin to realize how much it colors their every day.

'A story of resilience, hope, and finding yourself in a complicated world.' For fifth grader Deja, it's tough enough starting school in a new neighbourhood. Projects about her home and family only highlight how different she is from her classmates. But when Deja receives an assignment on the two towers missing from the skyline out heir classroom windows, she sets off on a journey of discovery. With new friends Ben and Sabeen by her side, Deja learns more about who she is, how her community can grow and heal, what happened on September 11, 2011 - and what it means to be an American.

This graphic novel chronicles the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City through moving individual stories that bear witness to history and the ways it shapes the future.

There is September 11 and then there are the days after, and finally the years. Falling Man is a magnificent, essential novel about the event that defines turn-of-the-century America. It begins in the smoke and ash of the burning towers and tracks the aftermath of this global tremor in the intimate lives of a few people. First there is Keith, walking out of the rubble into a life that he'd always imagined belonged to everyone but him. Then Lianne, his es-tranged wife, memory-haunted, trying to reconcile two versions of the same shadowy man. And their small son Justin, standing at the window, scanning the sky for more planes. These are lives choreographed by loss, grief and the enormous force of history. Brave and brilliant, Falling Man traces the way the events of September 11 have reconfigured our emotional landscape, our memory and our perception of the world. It is cathartic, beautiful, heartbreaking.

The similar casts of the imagination shared by these three poems can be traced back to the similar cultural conditions under which the poets wrote. Each stood in, and indeed stood for, a cultural tradition that was exhausted and dying. Skelton was arguably the last medieval poet, Pope the last Renaissance poet, and Eliot the last romantic. One important pattern of conflict that can be seen in all three poems is between age and youth. Each poet speaks with an aged voice. Skelton's parrot is a very old bird and the poet himself is not very far behind him; Pope is present behind The Dunciad in the character he publicly cultivated in the 1730s of the wise old philosopher; and Eliot's speaker in The Waste Land, who is probably much like Eliot himself, is implicitly aged. The speakers' worlds are dominated by youth, a motif that is quite marked in each of the poems.

Candice Gaines loves Christmas. Not only does she bask in the twinkling lights, sing Christmas carols and go crazy with the decorations, she's also in the giving spirit, donating much of her time and wealth to various charities in the local area. Charlie Sullivan despises Christmas. Though it keeps his family afloat, considering they own Sullivan Family Christmas Tree Farm, the main provider for Christmas trees on the Monterey peninsula. He'd much rather work among the trees versus have to deal with people. But Charlie's parents are taking on more philanthropic projects-and as their oldest child, they want him to be their official public representative. He just has to play nice and convince everyone he's not a total holiday hater. When Charlie's mom asks Candice to accompany him to a variety of holiday parties and events, she reluctantly agrees. She thinks Charlie is a big ol' Grinch, but is determined to change his mindset and help him spread Christmas cheer. Charlie finds Candice is too chatty, too sweet, too much. Do people like her really exist? Why yes, yes they do. The more time they spend together-along with a few kisses under the mistletoe-the more they start to like each other. Hopefully Charlie can convince Candice he doesn't have a heart that's two sizes too small before the ball drops on New Year's Eve.

'Addy is a heroine any reader might aspire to be, a teenager who learns to trust her own voice and instincts, who realizes that fire can live within someone, too' - New York Times From award-winning and bestselling author Jewell Parker Rhodes comes a powerful coming-of-age survival tale set during a devastating wild fire. Addy is haunted by the tragic fire that killed her parents, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother. Now, years later, Addy's grandmother has enrolled her in a summer wilderness programme. There, Addy joins five other Black city kids - each with their own troubles - to spend a summer out west. Deep in the forest, the kids learn new (and to them) strange skills: camping, hiking, rock climbing and how to start and safely put out campfires. Most important, they learn to depend upon each other for companionship and survival. But then comes a furious forest fire ... From award-winning and bestselling author Jewell Parker Rhodes comes a powerful survival tale exploring issues of race, class, and climate change.

From award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes comes a powerful novel set fifteen years after the 9/11 attacks in a classroom of students who cannot remember the event but live through the aftermath of its cultural shift. When her fifth-grade teacher hints that a series of lessons about home and community will culminate with one big answer about two tall towers once visible outside their classroom window, Dèja can't help but feel confused. She sets off on a journey of discovery, with new friends Ben and Sabeen by her side. But just as she gets closer to answering big questions about who she is, what America means, and how communities can grow (and heal), she uncovers new questions, too. Like, why does Pop get so angry when she brings up anything about the towers? Award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes tells a powerful story about young people who weren't alive to witness this defining moment in history, but begin to realize how much it colors their every day.