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
Audiobook
This hilarious, original, and heartbreaking novel by the author of Everything is Illuminated follows the precocious Oskar Blum as he travels throughout New York City and tries to make sense of his father's death in the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001. Unabridged. 10 CDs.
Extremely loud & incredibly close
Foer, Jonathan Safran
Paper Book
ANew York Times Bestseller * NamedA Best Book of the Year by the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post Book World, Chicago Tribune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch,andRocky Mountain News   Nine-year-old Oskar Schell has embarked on an...
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
DeFede, Jim
Audiobook
Perfect for fans of the musical Come From Away! When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land at Gander International Airport in Canada by the closing of U.S. airspace on September 11, the population of this small town on Newfoundland Island swelled from 10,300 to...
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....
This very tree :
Rubin, Sean,
Paper Book
A deeply moving story about community and resilience, from the point-of-view of the Callery pear tree that survived the attacks on September 11, from Eisner Award-nominated author-illustrator Sean Rubin. * "A resonant, beautifully rendered testament to life and renewal." --...
A widow's walk
Fontana, Marian.
Paper Book
Fontana, president of the 9/11 Widows and Victims' Family Association, pens a moving, lyrical, and profoundly funny memoir of a year in the life of a firefighter wife widowed in the 9/11 attacks.
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...
I survived the attacks of September 11, 2001
Tarshis, Lauren.
Paper Book
When Lucas decides to skip school because he wants to discuss football with a firefighter friend of his father, he finds himself caught up in the terrorist attacks on New York City.
The looming tower : Al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11
Wright, Lawrence
Paper Book
A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of...
Nine, ten :
Baskin, Nora Raleigh
Paper Book
From the critically acclaimed author of Anything But Typical comes a touching 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. Ask anyone: September 11, 2001, was serene and lovely, a...
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...
The ground truth :
Farmer, John J.
Paper Book
From the senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission, a mesmerizing real-time portrayal of that day, why we weren't told the truth, and why our nation is still at risk. As one of the primary authors of the 9/11 Commission Report, John Farmer is proud of his and his colleagues? work....
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...
Fall and rise :
Zuckoff, Mitchell
Paper Book
"Better and more comprehensive than any prior account. . . . Those of us who lived through those days will find the book cathartic; those rising generations who were too young to remember 9/11, or who weren't yet born, will find it revelatory." -- John Farmer, senior counsel to the 9/11...
America Is under Attack: September 11, 2001 - The Day the Towers Fell
Brown, Don
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...
14 cows for America
Other
This video recounts the true story of a touching gift bestowed on the United States by a tribe of Maasai Warriors in the wake of the September 11th attacks.
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...
September 11 /
Romero, Libby,
Paper Book
The events of September 11, 2001, changed the world forever. With compelling photographs and sensitive, age-appropriate text, this Level 3 reader recounts the shocking attacks at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania, explains who was behind the attacks, and celebrates the...

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