Tom Rinaldi

As someone who was an adult on 9/11, who heard about the attacks at work in real time, it's interesting for me to watch the evolution of how my country deals with the trauma, but I'm conflicted about this book and this story. It's interesting hearing about what happened inside the towers and about the lives of a few individuals, but I'm uncomfortable with the way one person's heroism has become a focal point, his red bandana a symbol to buy. I mean, here's a guy who lost his life leading people to safety and his story is used to inspire a college football team to beat another team, the red bandana used by those he saved to identify him turned into a prop for fans to wave? This is just distasteful to me and so United Statesian, combining the profound with the banal. So, I'm ambivalent about this one.… (altro)

A moving story. The author of the book (an adaptation for young readers) was the reporter for the ESPN story about Welles Crowther, who was working in the south tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11/01. He was a volunteer firefighter and thinking of changing professions. He was a college athlete. Lots of background on Welles and then his family's work to trace what happened to him that day (lots of life saving) and his legacy. This would have some strong character ties. There are lots of red bandanna project potential. A moving, feel good story that also gave a lot of context about the towers on 9/11 and after. Quick read.… (altro)