Center for Teaching & Learning

September 11, 2001: in an elevator descending from the top floor of the North Tower, Brandon hears a thump from above and is suddenly flipped sideways, trapped. He and the other people in the elevator don’t know if they will ever get out. Will he live to tell the tale? 

In Afghanistan, on September 11, 2019, Reshmina goes out to get water from the village well, and she hears gunshots from nearby. She runs home, and on the way meets a soldier who has been injured from the fight. Because of Reshmina’s religion, she cannot talk to the soldier. She speaks loudly, as if talking to herself, and the American soldier follows her home. Will he betray their location or will he save them? This well-written novel is all set in one exciting and terrifying day that leaves the reader’s heart racing.

Ground Zero is a gripping story with two meaningful characters that both have the same problem, on the same day, in different years. Gratz writes this story with multiple themes: from war to friendship, from one day to another. Audiences will love how Gratz wrote about past history and what life is like now for Reshmina and her brother, Pasoon. At first I thought that just Reshmina and her family were in trouble, but readers will soon realize that her whole village is in danger, too. What will happen?

Gratz builds this novel around two powerful characters who will give readers new perspectives. The book is never slow-paced; it is always moving forward at an alarming rate that will make audiences never want to put this book down. Ground Zero is a perfect combination of two different genres—historical fiction and realistic fiction—that will teach you more about 9/11 and how much the Taliban has affected Reshmina and her village. I loved how Gratz put into perspective that the event Brandon is enduring killed many lives, and Gratz added so many little details that the reader can experience the thrill of the story.

Gratz is the author of seventeen other books, including Refugee, Code of Honor, Grenade, and many others. I have only read Refugee, and it is just as gripping as Ground Zero. Ground Zero is a riveting story with an action-packed plot that will leave audiences wondering how Gratz managed to set the novel all in one day. I rated this book an eleven out of ten and recommend it to anybody who would like to read a novel about the destruction of 9/11 and the Taliban. A couple chapters in will leave readers wondering—Will they survive?

Karen 

Scholastic Press, 304 pages