Ground Zero

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Synopsis:

It’s September 11, 2001. Brandon, a 9-year-old boy, goes to work for the day with his dad . . . at the World Trade Center in New York City. When two planes hit the towers, Brandon and his father are trapped inside a fiery nightmare as terror and confusion swirl around them. Can they escape — and what will the world be like when they do?

In present-day Afghanistan, Reshmina is an 11-year-old girl who is used to growing up in the shadow of war, but she has dreams of peace and unity. When she ends up harboring a wounded young American soldier, she and her entire family are put in mortal danger. But Reshmina also learns something surprising about the roots of this endless war.

My Review:

4/5 stars. I don’t have any major complaints about Ground Zero, but it’s not outstanding by any means. It’s a good book that kept me engaged the whole way through and had some great emotional beats, but it’s fairly simple and didn’t stand out to me. I enjoyed the overarching themes/message of the story.

I understand that it is middle grade, but the writing is very simple — lots of telling instead of showing, not a lot of vivid descriptions, etc. There are also a few instances where I had a hard time believing a 9- or 11-year-old would use certain words or process thoughts the way they did.

Those are my only real complaints, though. Now I’ll move onto the aspects I enjoyed: The plot is very engaging and action-packed throughout. Since it’s dual perspective, there are often times when one chapter ends on a cliffhanger, so I had to read two more chapters to get back to the first POV. That made it easier to fly through the story.

Comparing the dual perspectives of Ground Zero, though, I found myself more invested in Brandon’s story than Reshmina’s. Maybe it’s because I don’t have as much of a background for her experience, but I found myself having more feelings about the 9/11 story. Seeing the horrors of that day from the perspective of a 9-year-old kid is heartbreaking, and what happens to him in general is so sad. One little detail in his story that I liked was the inclusion of a minor blind character.

Rated: Mild. There are a few instances of mild language and God’s name taken in vain. There is one brief mention of a drug as a negative thing. The book has lots of violence but nothing gory; mentions of dead bodies, injuries, blood, body parts, etc.

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