Gerstein, Mordicai. The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. Brookfield: Roaring Brook Press, 2003.
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers is a great Biography/Historical fiction about a street performing man name Philippe Pitit who dreamed of walking between the Twin towers. He and some friends dressed up as construction works while the buildings were still being built and snuck to the top. It took them all night to get everything ready with a few close calls in between. That morning he walked across the rope, people began to spot him. Police were yelling you are under arrest. When he eventually came down from the rope he was arrested and the judge's "punishment" was for him to perform in the park for children. This brave/illegal act that Pitit took part in left at least one good memory of the towers for the people of New York. This book brings about themes of dedication, devotion, passion, and carrying on the memory of things even if something tragic brought it down.
The thing I criticize is the age appropriateness, after this book some children may go out and attempt to walk a rope across something with no training or. Also I don't think younger children will understand the concept of carrying on the memory because they may not know what happened to the towers or the severity of it. The artistic techniques in this book are very unique. Two pages in the book fold out making the rope walking experience seem very intense and real. Also he builds of his color use from dark to light throughout the book. I thought the very last page with the towers within the cloud being shown as a memory was very creative and intense and send a huge message.
JJS
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
What audiences could you imagine for this book? What types of conversations might you have with younger readers to address your concerns?
I really like this book! I read it when I was younger...although I do agree with the age appropriateness question. I think there are a lot of factors that would go into deciding what is age appropriate but I always liked this book.
I think this book would be a good one to share with upper elementary students because they can probably comprehend the severity of the situation, whereas someone younger may not be able to grasp it. I would definitely share this book in a classroom that discusses history because you could educate your students about what actually happened on the tragic day, 9-11, but then you have this picture book to leave a positive memory of the twin towers. Now that I'm older and I think back to when I was in elementary school, I wish there were more stories like this that were shared with me when learning about history.
Post a Comment