The Man Who Walked Between the Towers - Caldecott Medal Winner

Gerstein, M. (2003). The man who walked between the towers. Brookfield, CT: Roaring Book Press.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers is an absolutely fascinating story based on true events. The illustrations are somewhat impressionistic and compliment the story wonderfully. I have always been interested in acrobatics and it is amazing to think that someone actually tight-rope walked between the two World Trade Center towers. The book includes two fold-out pages of illustrations that really help bring the story to life and allow the reader to get a better idea of how amazing Philippe Petit's task was.

One thing that makes this story so special is, of course, the events of September 11, 2001. As I read the story, I remembered watching the news as the two towers collapsed. Whenever I think of the towers, I immediately think of their collapse and all the lives that were lost and impacted when they fell. It is interesting to have another story to connect with the towers. Philippe Petit's story can be viewed as somewhat of a parallel to the story of the people who had to overcome terrifying obstacles in order to move on with their lives and dreams after the fall of the towers.