Ash and Honor by Jeffrey Robinson

ASH AND HONOR by Jeffrey Robinson details “The Untold 368 Minutes of 9/11.” Robinson, a prolific non-fiction writer, offers over sixty eyewitness accounts, all while describing the confusion and uncertainty of that eventful day. Because of all of the acronyms and bureaucracy involved this text is difficult to follow at times, but it is well-researched and brings up aspects of which few may be aware. The description of getting all of those planes out of the air and subsequently finding box cutters on some after they landed gave me goosebumps. Publishers Weekly calls ASH AND HONOR “a valuable record of bureaucracies and chains of command operating under extreme pressure” and that does seem to be Robinson’s main focus. Look also for other books related to 9/11 if your interests differ. 

I am grateful that we collected so many contemporary works (such as Understanding September 11 by Mitch Frank and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies’ Collection of Front Pages) so that they could be available for future student research. We also have numerous works of young adult fiction related to 9/11. And the public library offers several relevant documentary videos through the Kanopy platform. Two items on my own to-be-read list are The Only Plane in the Sky by Graff and The Day the World Came to Town by Defede (also commemorated in the musical Come From Away currently playing in Austin). Despite the sad subject, the passing of twenty-five years deserves a respectful remembrance.

An Emotion of Great Delight by Tahereh Mafi

As we talked about recent favorite books, several students praised the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi.  They will also appreciate her new standalone novel, AN EMOTION OF GREAT DELIGHT. Mafi is an amazingly talented writer; her A Very Large Expanse of Sea was longlisted for the National Book Award. She sets AN EMOTION OF GREAT DELIGHT in 2003, shortly after the September 11 attacks and explores Islamophobia as well as coming of age issues dealing with parental expectations, questions of faith, friendships, and first love. Shadi is finishing high school while trying to deal with several family traumas. The circumstances are overwhelming and she muses, “People thought I was growing up, and perhaps I was, perhaps this was growing up – this, this, an uncertain spiral into a darkness lined with teeth.”

Mafi’s words invoke empathy for Shadi and also for students who may be dealing with individual situations (particularly in the last fifteen months) of which teachers and other adults may not be aware. As Shadi says, “I made it to the sidewalk and stared at my feet, my heart beating erratically in my chest. I’d been fighting tears all day, all week, all year; it was exhausting.” Shadi’s struggles encompass health issues and a death in her family, plus feelings for Ali, brother of her best friend Zahra, all of which are tempered by cultural expectations: “I could not deny the beliefs that shaped me any more than I could deny the color of my eyes. It made for a lonely life …. lived, always, on the uncertain plane of a hyphen.” I strongly recommend this novel, both for the important universal themes it explores and for the quality of the writing (“The sunlight was heavy today, fingers of heat forming sweaty hands that braced my face…”).  AN EMOTION OF GREAT DELIGHT received enthusiastic stared reviews from Booklist (“A bluntly powerful read that shouldn’t be missed”), Kirkus, and School Library Journal.