The Man Who Walked Between The Towers

• Title: The Man Who Walked Between The Towers
• Author: Mordicai Gerstein
• Illustrator: Mordicai Gerstein
• Publisher: Square Fish, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers
• Publication year: 2003
• Brief Summary: From Macmillan Publishers-“In 1974, French aerialist Philippe Petit threw a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center and spent an hour walking, dancing, and performing high-wire tricks a quarter mile in the sky. This picture book captures the poetry and magic of the event with a poetry of its own: lyrical words and lovely paintings that present the detail, daring, and–in two dramatic foldout spreads– the vertiginous drama of Petit’s feat.”
• Ideas for using this book in classroom or library –This book is a little more subtle in it’s mention of 9/11. But by giving this reader the delightfully daring account of Philippe Petit tight-ropping the two towers, it leaves room to mention that the towers are now gone. I found this teacher’s blog called Laura Candler’s Teaching Resources where she mentions that she uses this book on 9/11 as a read aloud. Part of her blog also gives some great discussion questions that can be used after the reading.
• Whatever additional notes you’d like to add about this book and why you liked or didn’t like it –One of my favorite aspects of this book is the fold-out pages in it. The most powerful is the fold-out page of the towers, showing a small line that is Philippe Petit walking across