Book Nook: We All Fall Down

We All Fall Down
~Eric Walters

BBB Rating: 4 out of 5

This book was recommended to me by a colleague at work, and she got the recommendation for her 18 year old son! He had read it at school and really took an interest in it, so he told his mom that she should read it. Her and I were chatting books one day at the office, and the next day, a copy was in my hand.

It is not a long book, but it's a deep book. Told from the perspective of a Grade 9 student who goes to work with his father to the World Trade Towers on the fateful day of September 11th, what follows is their experience together as they live through one of the most memorable days in US history.

From Goodreads:

Today is September 10, 2001, and Will, a grade nine student, is spending the day at his father’s workplace tomorrow. As part of a school assignment, all the students in his class will be going to their parents tomorrow, but Will isn’t excited about it–he’d rather sleep in and do nothing with his friends. His father doesn’t even have an exciting job like his best friend James’s father who is a fireman. Will’s dad works for an international trading company and has to wake up early every morning to commute to his office on the eighty-fifth floor in the south building of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Will doesn’t see his father very often because of the hours he puts in at the office. He doubts that his dad will bother making time for him tomorrow even when they are supposed to be spending the day together.

In this fast-paced and dramatic new novel by bestselling author Eric Walters, Will discovers a new side of his father during an event that continues to affect the world. As Will’s new teacher says, tomorrow “might be an experience that changes your entire life.” 

The author, Eric Walters, is a Canadian teacher who decided to write books about the subject matter he was teaching his students as a way to make the material more accessible. Most of his books are based on real life events and are told from the perspective of a young student, and they often take place in Canada. Other works include stories about the 1954 Hurricane Hazel (Safe as Houses), a story mixed with fact and fiction about Terry Fox (Run), and his sequel to We All Fall Down, United We Stand, which continues the story of Will and his father on September 12th. I think I'll have to check that one out next. And I'll be remembering these for when Olivia is older, too.