Patriot Day Reading List

Fiction and non-fiction books about 9/11 recommended by our Librarians.

Updated September 5, 2025
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The only plane in the sky : an oral history of 9/11
Graff, Garrett M.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "This is history at its most immediate and moving...A marvelous and memorable book." --Jon Meacham ​"Remarkable...A priceless civic gift...On page after page, a reader will encounter words that startle,...
The only plane in the sky
Graff, Garrett M.,
Audiobook
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "This is history at its most immediate and moving...A marvelous and memorable book." --Jon Meacham "Remarkable...A priceless civic gift...On page after page, a reader will encounter words that startle, or make him angry, or heartbroken." --The...
Extremely loud & incredibly close
Foer, Jonathan Safran 1977-
Paper Book
A funny, uplifting novel about a boy's journey through New York in the aftermath of September 11th from one of today's most celebrated writers. Nine-year-old Oskar Schell embarks on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York. His...
Extremely loud & incredibly close
Foer, Jonathan Safran 1977-
Paper Book
A funny, uplifting novel about a boy's journey through New York in the aftermath of September 11th from one of today's most celebrated writers. Nine-year-old Oskar Schell embarks on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York. His...
Towers falling /
Rhodes, Jewell Parker
Paper Book
From award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes comes a powerful novel set fifteen years after the 9/11 attacks in a classroom of students who cannot remember the event but live through the aftermath of its cultural shift. When her fifth-grade teacher hints that a series of lessons...
Falling man : a novel
DeLillo, Don.
Paper Book
There is September 11 and then there are the days after, and finally the years. Falling Man is a magnificent, essential novel about the event that defines turn-of-the-century America. It begins in the smoke and ash of the burning towers and tracks the aftermath of this global...
Ground Zero /
Gratz, Alan,
Paper Book
The instant #1 New York Times bestseller. Acclaimed storyteller Alan Gratz (Refugee) delivers a pulse-pounding and unforgettable take on history and hope, revenge and fear -- and the stunning links between the past and present. September 11, 2001, New...
Ground zero :
Gratz, Alan,
Audiobook
In time for the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, master storyteller Alan Gratz (Refugee) delivers a pulse-pounding and unforgettable take on history and hope, revenge and fear -- and the stunning links between the past and present. September 11, 2001, New York City: Brandon is...
The day the world came to town : 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland
DeFede, Jim
Paper Book
The True Story Behind the Events on 9/11 that Inspired Broadway's Smash Hit Musical Come from Away, Featuring All New Material from the Author When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land at Gander International Airport in Canada by the closing of U.S....
The day the world came to town :
DeFede, Jim
Paper Book
The True Story Behind the Events on 9/11 that Inspired Broadway's Smash Hit Musical Come from Away, Featuring All New Material from the Author When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land at Gander International Airport in Canada by the closing of U.S....
102 minutes :
Dwyer, Jim,
Paper Book
The dramatic and moving account of the struggle for life inside the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, when every minute counted At 8:46 am on September 11, 2001, 14,000 people were inside the twin towers-reading e-mails, making trades, eating croissants at...
The attacks of September 11, 2001
Tarshis, Lauren.
Paper Book
On the day that shocks the world, one boy just wants to find his family. A powerful addition to the gripping I Survived series. The only thing Lucas loves more than football is his Uncle Benny, his dad's best friend at the fire department where they both work. Benny taught Lucas everything...
The looming tower : Al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11
Wright, Lawrence 1947-
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * A "heart-stopping account of the events leading up to 9/11" (The New York Times Book Review), this definitive history explains in gripping detail the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the rise of al-Qaeda, and the intelligence failures that...
Nine, ten : a September 11 story
Baskin, Nora Raleigh
Paper Book
From the critically acclaimed author of Anything But Typical comes a "tense...and thought-provoking" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) look at the days leading up to the tragic events of September 11, 2001, and how that day impacted the lives of four middle schoolers.
Let's roll! : ordinary people, extraordinary courage
Beamer, Lisa.
Paper Book
2003 ECPA Gold Medallion Award winner! Lisa Beamer was thrust into the national spotlight after her husband, Todd, led a counterattack against terrorists on United Flight 93. He-and all the other passenger heroes-lost their lives in a Pennsylvania field. But that plane was the only one of the...
Ghost wars :
Coll, Steve
Paper Book
Comprehensively and for the first time, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll tells the secret history of the CIA's role in Afghanistan, from its covert programme against Soviet troops from 1979-89, to the rise of the Taliban and the emergence of bin Laden, to the secret efforts vy CIA...
America is under attack : September 11, 2001 : the day the towers fell
Brown, Don 1949-
Paper Book
One of School Library Journal's Best Nonfiction Books of 2011 One of Horn Book's Best Nonfiction Books of 2011 On the ten year anniversary of the September 11 tragedy, a straightforward and sensitive book for a generation of readers too young to remember that...
14 cows for America
Deedy, Carmen Agra.
Paper Book
This New York Times bestseller recounts the true story of the touching gift bestowed on the US by the Maasai people in the wake of the September 11 attacks. In June of 2002, a mere nine months since the September 11 attacks, a very unusual ceremony begins in a far-flung...
What were the Twin Towers? /
O'Connor, Jim
Paper Book
Discover the true story of the Twin Towers-how they came to be the tallest buildings in the world and why they were destroyed. When the Twin Towers were built in 1973, they were billed as an architectural wonder. At 1,368 feet, they clocked in as the tallest buildings in the...
What were the Twin Towers?
O'Connor, Jim
Paper Book
Discover the true story of the Twin Towers-how they came to be the tallest buildings in the world and why they were destroyed. When the Twin Towers were built in 1973, they were billed as an architectural wonder. At 1,368 feet, they clocked in as the tallest buildings in the...

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