Ground Zero by Alan Gratz

From Goodreads, 

"In time for the 20th anniversary of 9/11, bestselling author Alan Gratz delivers a breathtaking, multifaceted, and resonant look at this singular event in US history -- and how it still impacts us today.
It's September 11, 2001. Brandon, a 9-year-old boy, goes to work for the day with his dad . . . at the World Trade Center in New York City. When two planes hit the towers, Brandon and his father are trapped inside a fiery nightmare as terror and confusion swirl around them. Can they escape -- and what will the world be like when they do?
In present-day Afghanistan, Reshmina is an 11-year-old girl who is used to growing up in the shadow of war, but she has dreams of peace and unity. When she ends up harboring a wounded young American soldier, she and her entire family are put in mortal danger. But Reshmina also learns something surprising about the roots of this endless war.
With his trademark skill and insight, Alan Gratz delivers an action-packed and powerful story of two kids whose lives connect in unexpected ways, and reminds us how the past and present are always more linked than we think."

Goodreads - Ground Zero

I have become a huge fan of Alan Gratz and his books.  I read Allies a year ago and devoured the book in one sitting.  Gratz has a way of telling a story that keeps you turning the page and wanting more.  He weaves voices together to paint a full picture of the story he is telling.  When I heard that he was releasing a book about 9/11 I was beyond excited.  9/11 was a major historical event.  To this day I do an empathy unit in my classroom as we discuss what happened that day and I tell my students where I was that day and the impact that it had on my life.  This story is the perfect example of an event happening and the aftermath that it caused on everyone. 

Ground Zero is told in two alternating time periods by alternating people.  One story is told by a boy named Brandon who was in the North Tower on September 11th.  Brandon had gotten in trouble at school and had to go to work with his dad that day.  Brandon's dad worked as a chef in the restaurant on the top floor of the North Tower.  Brandon decided to sneak away to buy a new pair of Wolverine gloves after Brandon accidentally broke a friend's pair.  While on the elevator to buy the gloves, the elevator shakes and shudders.  Brandon is soon fighting for his life.  The other story is told by a young girl named Reshmina who lives in present-day Afghanistan.  Reshmina has experienced loss in her life and her family tries to stay safe and protected from the Taliban.  Reshmina worries that her brother will run away to join the Taliban like so many other boys from her village have done.  But one day there are soldiers in the village searching for weapons, and one of the soldiers is an American.  An attack takes place and the American soldier is soon unable to see and asking for help.  Reshmina decides to help the soldier which then puts her entire family in danger.  The entire book is a game of who will survive and who won't make it to see the next day. 

I was initially super irritated at Reshmina's storyline.  The entire time I felt like it had nothing to do with the 9/11 storyline.  I felt like Reshmina's story was dull and boring.  Of course there were exciting things happening, but her storyline just felt out of place in the book.  There were numerous times that I just wanted to skip her chapters and read only Brandon's.  Brandon's story kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time.  I wanted to know if Brandon was going to safely get out of the North Tower before the collapse.  And if he did make it out I wanted to know if the people he was escaping with were going to make it too.  I felt like I was living through the actual events that happened that day.  But the entire time I was tired of Reshmina's story until I got to the end of the book.  I realized this was a wrap-around story.  I was blown away by how Gratz connected the two stories in such a flawless fashion.  I loved that surprise twist, but I think I would have also enjoyed just Brandon's story too.  My biggest problem with Gratz's writing style is that I always fall in love with a specific story and just want one piece instead of multiple pieces and viewpoints. 

I don't have any major complaints about this book.  But I will say that I was a little shocked by some of the graphicness of events.  I read Allies and wasn't bothered with people being shot, killed, burned to death, etc.  But there was something about this story that unsettled me.  I think it was because I was alive when this happened and because there are so many videos posted from that day.  One of the big things that really caught me off guard was when Brandon made it to the main lobby and they were being redirected to a different area.  Gratz really hit on the point that people were jumping and that there were bodies all outside of the towers.  It felt like a really graphic moment for a young adult book.  

I really enjoyed this book.  As I mentioned earlier, I would have loved to have had just Brandon's story.  Once the book was over I was okay with Reshmina's story and how they all connected, but I think having just Brandon's story would have been really good.  I also think it would have been really intriguing to have it told from multiple viewpoints much like Allies was told.  I think we could have had viewpoints, thoughts, and discussions from people who were above the impact zone or were making the decision to jump or to stay.  It would have made it a much more intense novel.  I think that anyone who was alive for 9/11 is going to enjoy this book.  I easily give it 5 stars. 

Ban This Book by Alan Gratz

From Goodreads,

-Readers, librarians, and all those books that have drawn a challenge have a brand new hero.... Stand up and cheer, book lovers. This one's for you.- --Kathi Appelt, author of the Newbery Honor-winning The Underneath

An inspiring tale of a fourth-grader who fights back when her favorite book is banned from the school library--by starting her own illegal locker library!

It all started the day Amy Anne Ollinger tried to check out her favorite book in the whole world, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, from the school library. That's when Mrs. Jones, the librarian, told her the bad news: her favorite book was banned! All because a classmate's mom thought the book wasn't appropriate for kids to read.

Amy Anne decides to fight back by starting a secret banned books library out of her locker. Soon, she finds herself on the front line of an unexpected battle over book banning, censorship, and who has the right to decide what she and her fellow students can read.

Reminiscent of the classic novel Frindle by Andrew Clements for its inspiring message, Ban This Book is a love letter to the written word and its power to give kids a voice.

-Ban This Book is absolutely brilliant and belongs on the shelves of every library in the multiverse.---Lauren Myracle, author of the bestselling Internet Girls series, the most challenged books of 2009 and 2011

Goodreads - Ban This Book

Awards and Nominations:

• Bluestem Book Award Nominee (2020)

I was recently talking with a friend about books and what book I read as a child that made me really fall in love with reading.  I thought about my elementary years and couldn't think of one.  In sixth grade, my language arts teacher read Shipwreck which was the first book in the Island series.  I really enjoyed the book and looked forward to her reading it to us.  But I think the first book that I read by myself that really made me latch onto reading was A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks.  I think I was in seventh grade and fell in love with his love story novels.  So my question to you is, have you ever stopped to think about what book made you fall in love with reading?  What book had a big impact on your life?

Ban This Book is a moving novel about a quiet girl named Amy Anne who loves the book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.  Everything is fine in fourth grade until a parent decides that there are books in the library that are completely inappropriate.  These books, including Amy Anne's favorite, is banned from the school library.  Quiet Amy decides that this isn't right or fair and starts the B.B.L.L. or the Banned Book Locker Library.  Soon kids are checking banned books out as they all take a stand to get their favorite books back into the library.  

I have decided that Alan Gratz is probably one of the most amazing humans that exist.  I've read Allies and Resist which are both books about WWII.  I had pegged him as a war and military genre writer, but he surprised me again with this book.  This book had the same vibe as Frindle.  Students decide to rise up against "the man" aka adults.  I use Frindle in my classroom because I can bring in word studies and Greek and Latin roots.  This book would be a wonderful read-aloud to discuss censorship.  The book is full of real books that have been challenged in schools across the country.  I think it is great for kids to have access to all books, but allow the parents to make decisions on what THEIR child reads.  I have friends that only allow their kids to read certain types of books while others let their kids read absolutely anything.  That being said, from a teacher standpoint, I have a slightly different approach to this.  I teach fifth grade and will put just about any book in my library.  However, I do censor what books we read in class or that I read aloud.  If I am reading a book that has cuss words in it then I do change them as I read.  As a teacher, it is a very fine line that we walk with censorship.  You want to make books accessible to kids, but you also don't want parents causing a big stink over a book that you had in your library.  I always tell students if the book makes them uncomfortable or it has something they don't like, to not read it. 

This book is about banned books, and I figure eventually it will get challenged.  It does talk about sex a couple times in the book, but very very briefly and not with much in the detail department.  I think there will absolutely be parents who think this book is "inappropriate" because it gives multiple books that have been challenged or banned for one reason or another.  I think it is opening the door for many kids to find other books that could possibly be their new favorite.  

Favorite quote from Ban This Book:

"I loved the weight of them, the feel of the, especially the hardback books with the clear plastic coating that crinkled and crackled as you opened the book."

I absolutely loved this quote because this was always me as a kid.  I would purposefully check out books that had the plastic coating because I liked the way it sounded as I opened the book and held it while reading.  I'm weird.  I know.  This book exceeded my expectations and I have definitely added Alan Gratz to my list of favorite authors.  I give it 5 big stars and suggest that everyone read this book.  It is just a really good book about finding your voice and empowerment. 

Resist by Alan Gratz

From Goodreads,

"An exclusive, action-packed story about one girl's daring rescue mission during World War II.

Can Samira survive the dangers of D-Day and find her mother in time?"

Goodreads - Resist

I posted my review of Allies last week, which told the story of D-Day.  One of the characters in the book was named Samira.  Her piece of the story was very short and straightforward, and unfortunately, I felt it was incomplete.  Scholastic partnered with Alan Gratz to publish and release the special edition story of Samira.  I am so glad that I was able to get the entire 5th-grade class as well as myself a copy to read because it really concluded Samira's story for me.

Samira's story really starts in the book Allies.  Samira's mother is part of the French Resistance.  The morning of D-Day Samira's mother is taken by Nazi's after she is caught trying to help a family escape through a window.  Resist picks up with Samira trying to hide from the Nazis and find her mother at the same time.  It is a short story that flies by with brief chapters full of history.

After reading Allies I felt that Samira and James did not get their complete story told.  Luckily Samira's story is told in this book.  I hate that it wasn't included in the original story, but I'm also really glad that this was written so that her story would come full circle and be complete.  I felt that this book really showed more of the dark side of the Nazis that in Allies.  Allies is completely told from the perspective of those with the Allies.  There is very minimal interaction with the Nazis.  Resist however takes us to the middle of the woods where Nazis force people from the town of Bayeux to dig their own graves.  I think this really put it in perspective the mindset that they had.  I also liked the innocence that a child had when he asked why they were having to dig.  He was a child caught in the middle of a war and he didn't understand that he was digging his own grave.  That was the purest form of innocence.  Gratz really did a great job of telling the rest of Samira's story.  My only complaint is that I wish it had just been included in Allies. 

This is an absolute companion story to Allies.  I do think you need to read Allies before reading Resist.  I give this 3 stars.  I really wish that this entire thing had been in the original story instead of being a side story. 

Allies by Alan Gratz

From Goodreads,

"Alan Gratz, the bestselling author of Refugee, weaves a stunning array of voices and stories into an epic tale of teamwork in the face of tyranny -- and how just one day can change the world.
June 6, 1944: The Nazis are terrorizing Europe, on their evil quest to conquer the world. The only way to stop them? The biggest, most top-secret operation ever, with the Allied nations coming together to storm German-occupied France.

Welcome to D-Day.

Dee, a young U.S. soldier, is on a boat racing toward the French coast. And Dee -- along with his brothers-in-arms -- is terrified. He feels the weight of World War II on his shoulders.

But Dee is not alone. Behind enemy lines in France, a girl named Samira works as a spy, trying to sabotage the German army. Meanwhile, paratrooper James leaps from his plane to join a daring midnight raid. And in the thick of battle, Henry, a medic, searches for lives to save.

In a breathtaking race against time, they all must fight to complete their high-stakes missions. But with betrayals and deadly risks at every turn, can the Allies do what it takes to win?"

Goodreads - Allies

War stories have always fascinated me to some extent because I am from a military family with my brother, my dad, and my grandfather all having served.  My paternal grandparents have a very interesting story considering during WWII my grandfather was fighting for the Allies, while my grandmother was born and living in Nazi Germany.  They met and the rest is pretty much history.  I have been told by my grandmother that my grandfather stormed the beaches on D-Day.  While I don't know the truth in this (I am searching historical records to try to find out), this book definitely felt like a personal connection nonetheless. 

Allies is the story of D-Day told from various perspectives.  The stories vary from young boys seeing war for the first time to paratroopers being dropped in the middle of nowhere to a girl who was just trying to get her bathing suit off of the beach.  The stories are pieced together to give a complete view of D-Day.

I sat down and tore through this book as quickly as I could.  I started it a few minutes after midnight and read until 3:30 in the morning.  I forced myself to go to sleep and ended up waking up at 8:00 the next morning and finished reading it.  This book was absolutely amazing.  I loved the different perspectives from D-Day and feeling their pain and struggles on that day.  I also loved the history and time that went into making this book.  Most of this I already knew just from being in school and coming from a military family.  However, I was really intrigued by the If Day that James spoke about in his section of the book.   I thought it was the strangest thing to include in this book until I stopped and researched it.  I had no idea that in Winnipeg, Manitoba there was a thing called If Day where the entire town basically pretended that they were under Nazi regime.  The entire thing was to bring awareness to the war and to encourage people to purchase Victory Bonds.  While I was researching this my boyfriend came in to share something with me.  I told him about If Day and even he had no knowledge of it.  This book was packed with information and it was pieced together in a way that kept the story action-packed and interesting. 

The only things I didn't like were that I didn't feel Samira and James got a fair share of their story.  Samira's story was at the beginning and she was never mentioned again until the very end of the book.  James had his story, but I don't recall him being present in the final chapters when everyone was in Bayeux.  I will say that Gratz did write a short story for Samira and it was published through Scholastic.  I was able to get copies for all of my students.  I have yet to read it but I plan to drop a review once I finish.  I'm hoping that Samira's story will be filled in and completed. 

This book was absolutely amazing.  It was packed with adventure and suspense.  I literally could not put it down.  I give this an easy 5 stars.  Anyone interested in WWII books or books about D-Day will absolutely love this.