Bound To Stay Bound

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Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2011 The fourth entry in Brown’s Actual Times series marks the tenth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. In a format somewhat reminiscent of Wilborn Hampton’s account for older readers (September 11, 2001, BCCB 1/04), Brown follows the plight and flight of a number of survivors and victims-office workers and emergency responders-of the Twin Towers destruction, while also weaving in information on the concurrent episodes playing out at the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Ten years’ distance from the events allows Brown to include in his carefully crafted narrative some details missing in even the best of the children’s titles released closer to September 11, 2001. An author’s note talks briefly about America’s responding attack on Afghanistan and “improvements to intelligence gathering, national security, building construction, and emergency response” that followed in the wake. Still, a single decade isn’t enough to blunt the immediacy of the attack; Brown’s watercolor images are more intimate, individuated, and poignant here than in his previous titles on the Titanic and Revolutionary War, both of which involved persons facing death. Brown notes that action against Afghanistan failed to capture Osama bin Laden; however, updated information on the al-Qaeda leader’s recent death is not included. A bibliography of print and Internet resources is appended. EB - Copyright 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Booklist - 09/01/2011 A treatment of the attacks of September 11 relying heavily on illustration was inevitable, and something readers could anticipate with a mixture of hopefulness and trepidation. Thankfully, Brown’s take, an entry in his Actual Times series, is a model of straightforward, earnest nonfiction writing that brings things to many an uncomfortable point—that cannot be avoided—without going too far. This is not a book about motives: “Al-Qaeda hated America’s power and influence” is about all we get for a backdrop. Brown instead focuses upon the minute-by-minute progression of the attacks, from the initial pandemonium to the firefighters’ attempt at rescue, along the way working in mini stories of various survivors and heroes. Brown’s emotive watercolors keep faces indistinct, though there is no doubt that some of the images are frightening: the fireball blooming in the lobby of the North Tower, people hanging out of blasted upper windows, the two-page spread of black smoke that blots out all else. This is not transcendent, but that is all right; that this solid, well-sourced book makes no major missteps is a wonderful thing in itself. - Copyright 2011 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 09/01/2011 Gr 3–6—Specifically addressing young readers with no memory of that tragic day, America combines news reports with published eyewitness accounts. Brown's compelling narrative chronologically recounts the morning's events in a tone both straightforward and compassionate, without resorting to sensationalism. Brown's watercolor illustrations, covering most of each spread, mirror this voice, conveying the day's chaos and despair without unnecessarily frightening readers. The lack of a table of contents, chapter breaks, and an index suggests that this is a one-sitting read, but the book certainly contains enough information for research. An author's note, source notes, and a brief bibliography are included.—Rebecca Dash Donsky, New York Public Library - Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

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