Even though I have read many glowing reviews of Nine, Ten (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2016), I was reluctant to start it. I was reluctant to revisit the events of September 11 even through the pages of a story. I am glad I did, though. Nora Raleigh Baskin has crafted a story that offers an introduction to this historical even that marks my life to readers who were not yet born when it occurred.

Baskin introduces us to four young people who don’t know each other. They live throughout the country, but their lives are about to intersect as one event impacts them all.

• Sergio, a brilliant math student, lives with his grandmother and harbors a lingering anger at his father who only shows up when he wants something. His last appearance is too much for Sergio, who plays hooky from school the day before and meets Gideon, a New York firefighter. As he watches the towers smoke and then fall, Sergio worries about his new friend
• Aimee struggles to fit in at her new school in California while missing her mom who now frequently travels with her new job. This time her mom is in New York City for a meeting at the World Trade Center. A call from Aimee keeps her from making her meeting on time.
• Naheed was born in Columbus, Ohio, and has lived there all her life, but she feels like she sticks out ever since she began wearing her hijab. Trying to deflect attention off herself, she makes a classmate the target of student taunts. She knows that the right thing to do is to offer friendship to the awkward girl, but catastrophic news gets in the way.
• Will still grieves the death of his father, killed in an accident along the side of the road over a year ago. He’s also not sure what to do with his changing feelings for Claire, a girl he has grown up with in the small town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Now all of a sudden, he realizes that she is a girl.

Even though none of these four children lose someone close to them in the September 11 attacks, their lives will never be the same. By focusing on just the day before and day of the attacks, Baskin shows children today how this even impacted everyone. The ending, a glimpse of the memorial service one year later, once again brings the four children together in a chance encounter and reminds us that we each have the choice to make. Will we let this tragedy bring us together or drive us apart?

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