Welcome to Litsy!

Thanks for the #MiddleGradeMonday tag @Karisimo 🤗

This middle grade graphic memoir is about a 12/13-year-old girl & her experiences living in NYC & how her life changes when the towers fall on 9/11.

I thought pretty much everything about this one was excellent! The author was the same age as me when the towers went down, so I related to all of the cultural stuff that came with being a middle schooler at the time. #MiddleGradeMarchThroughTime

I would definitely recommend this to a middle grader, but it doesn‘t have that spark that also speaks to adult readers. On the whole this is a coming of age piece written mostly diary style. This is a good way to introduce young people to 9/11. The planes actually hit towards the end of the book, so you‘re already invested in the characters, & it doesn‘t go too much into the fallout of the tragedy. #WinterGames2021 #TeamGameSleighers @StayCurious

I don‘t know how this graphic memoir didn‘t make it on the MG 9/11 lists but I recommend adding it. Author Alyssa Bermudez opens her childhood diaries to us, filled with all the woes of middle school-zits, popularity, friendships, boys, school struggles, strict parents, navigating her parents divorce & her Puerto Rican and Italian heritage-when suddenly 9/11 strikes & Alyssa realizes life can change in a minute. I‘m glad I saw this at the library

3.5 ⭐
This book is told in diary entries of a girl 12 going on 13 over twenty years when the towers fell. The book is a bit long and overly drawn out, but I love how true to life it is/was. It‘s a fictionalized biography of the author. It had a lot of heart. While not as funny as Dork Diaries, or Wimpy Kid, I think many readers who like those series will find a lovely story within these pages.