September 11 2001 fiction

Today on Patriot Day, we remember the lives lost on September 11th, 2001.  Here are ten novels about or related to the events of that day.

All We Have Left by Wendy Mills - In interweaving stories of sixteen-year-olds, modern-day Jesse tries to cope with the ramifications of her brother's death on 9/11, while in 2001, Alia, a Muslim, gets trapped in one of the Twin Towers and meets a boy who changes everything for her as flames rage around them.
Now: Jesse is still coping with her brother's death on 9/11 and the way her dad filled their home with anger and grief. When one thoughtless decision turns her life upside down, she must face the past to make amends.
Then: Alia is a proud Muslim, visiting her father at his office in one of the Twin Towers. Trapped in the flames, she has no choice but to trust a boy she's just met.

Eleven by Tom Rogers - Alex Douglas always wanted to be a hero. But nothing heroic ever happened to Alex. Nothing, that is, until his eleventh birthday. When Alex rescues a stray dog as a birthday gift to himself, he doesn't think his life can get much better. Radar, his new dog, pretty much feels the same way. But this day has bigger things in store for both of them. This is a story about bullies and heroes. About tragedy and hope. About enemies with two legs and friends with four, and pesky little sisters and cranky old men, and an unexpected lesson in kindness delivered with a slice of pizza. This is Eleven the journey of a boy turning eleven on 9/11.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer - Meet Oskar Schell, an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, pacifist, correspondent with Stephen Hawking and Ringo Starr. He is nine years old. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. His mission is to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. An inspired innocent, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating, and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search. Along the way he is always dreaming up inventions to keep those he loves safe from harm. What about a birdseed shirt to let you fly away? What if you could actually hear everyone's heartbeat? His goal is hopeful, but the past speaks a loud warning in stories of those who've lost loved ones before. As Oskar roams New York, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity who are all survivors in their own way. He befriends a 103-year-old war reporter, a tour guide who never leaves the Empire State Building, and lovers enraptured or scorned. Ultimately, Oskar ends his journey where it began, at his father's grave. But now he is accompanied by the silent stranger who has been renting the spare room of his grandmother's apartment. They are there to dig up his father's empty coffin.

Five Years Gone by Marie Force - I knew on the day of the attack that our lives were changed forever. What I didn't know then was that I'd never see John again after he deployed. One day he was living with me, sleeping next to me, making plans with me. The next day he was gone.
That was five years ago. The world has moved on from that awful day, but I'm stuck in my own personal hell, waiting for a man who may be dead for all I know. At my sister's wedding, I meet Eric, the brother of the groom, and my heart comes alive once again.
The world is riveted by the capture of the terrorist mastermind, brought down by U.S. Special Forces in a daring raid. Now I am trapped between hoping I'll hear from John and fearing what'll become of my new life with Eric if I do.

Hope and Other Punch Lines by Julie Buxbaum - Abbi Hope Goldstein has lived almost her entire life in the shadow of the terrorist attacks of September 11: in an iconic photograph, Abbi wears a birthday crown and grasps a red balloon; just behind her, the South Tower of the World Trade Center is collapsing. Now her alter ego, Baby Hope, is the subject of internet memes, and Abbi is desperate for anonymity. Spending the summer before her seventeenth birthday incognito as a counselor at Knights Day Camp, she's psyched for eight weeks in the company of four-year-olds, none of whom have ever heard of Baby Hope. Too bad Noah Stern, whose own world was shattered on that terrible day, has a similar summer plan. When the two team up to ask difficult questions about the history behind the Baby Hope photo, is either of them ready to hear the answers?

The Memory of Things by Gae Polisner - On the morning of September 11, 2001, sixteen-year-old Kyle Donohue watches the first twin tower come down from the window of Stuyvesant High School. Moments later, terrified and fleeing home to safety across the Brooklyn Bridge, he stumbles across a girl perched in the shadows. She is covered in ash and wearing a pair of costume wings. With his mother and sister in California and unable to reach his father, a New York City detective likely on his way to the disaster, Kyle makes the split-second decision to bring the girl home. What follows is their story, told in alternating points of view, as Kyle tries to unravel the mystery of the girl so he can return her to her family. But what if the girl has forgotten everything, even her own name? And what if the more Kyle gets to know her, the less he wants her to go home? The Memory of Things tells a stunning story of friendship and first love and of carrying on with our day-to-day living in the midst of world-changing tragedy and unforgettable pain-it tells a story of hope.

Nine, Ten by Nora Raleigh Baskin - Relates how the lives of four children living in different parts of the country intersect and are affected by the events of September 11, 2001.
Sergio is struggling to come to terms with the absentee father he hates and the grandmother he loves. Will's father was killed in a car accident that has left the family reeling. Naheed has never before felt uncomfortable about being Muslim, but at her new school she's getting funny looks because of the head scarf she wears. Aimee is starting a new school in a new city and missing her mom, who has to fly to New York on business. These four dont know one another, but their lives are about to intersect in ways they never could have imagined. September 11, 2001, a perfect day-- until a plane struck the World Trade Center.

One Tuesday Morning by Karen Kingsbury - I'm a firefighter, God, so I know I've been in some tough places before. But this . . . this not knowing the people I love . . . this is the hardest thing I can imagine. The last thing Jake Bryan knew was the roar of the World Trade Center collapsing on top of him and his fellow firefighters. The man in the hospital bed remembers nothing. Not rushing with his teammates up the stairway of the south tower to help trapped victims. Not being blasted from the building. And not the woman sitting by his bedside who says she is his wife. Jamie Bryan will do anything to help her beloved husband regain his memory, and with it their storybook family life with their small daughter, Sierra. But that means helping Jake rediscover the one thing Jamie has never shared with him: his deep faith in God. Jake's fondest prayer for his wife is about to have an impact beyond anything he could possibly have conceived.  Book 1 of 3 in the 9/11 series

Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes - When her fifth-grade teacher hints that a series of lessons about home and community will culminate with one big answer about two tall towers once visible outside their classroom window, Deja can't help but feel confused. She sets off on a journey of discovery, with new friends Ben and Sabeen by her side. But just as she gets closer to answering big questions about who she is, what America means, and how communities can grow (and heal), she uncovers new questions, too. Like, why does Pop get so angry when she brings up anything about the towers?

The Towers by David Poyer - On the morning of September 11, 2001, Commander Dan Lenson is visiting the Pentagon, and his wife is at a job interview at the World Trade Center. In the action-packed scenes that follow, Dan fights his way through flames and destruction to safety, and tries to reach his wife on her cell phone, but the terrifying few seconds before they're cut off do nothing to calm his fears.
Dan immediately becomes involved in the military reaction to the attack. His SEAL team is assigned to Task Force Rhino, a mission that takes him to Afghanistan and the borders of Pakistan in order to hunt down, capture, or kill Osama bin Laden and other senior members of the Taliban government and al Qaeda leadership. Book 13 of 19 in the Dan Lenson series