The Red Bandanna (Young Readers Adaptation)
-
- $7.99
-
- $7.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the Christopher Award
An ILA-CBC Children’s Choices Book
A NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Book
Welles Crowther did not see himself as hero. He was just an ordinary kid who played sports, volunteered at his local fire department, and eventually headed off to college and then Wall Street to start a career. Throughout it all, he always kept a red bandanna in his pocket, a gift from his father. On September 11, 2001, Welles was working on the 104th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center when the Twin Towers were attacked. That day, Welles made a fearless choice, and in doing so, saved many lives.
The survivors didn’t know his name, but one of them remembered a single detail clearly: the man was wearing a red bandanna. Welles Crowther was a hero.
Award-winning ESPN reporter Tom Rinaldi brings Welles's inspirational story of selflessness and compassion to life in this accessible young readers’ adaptation of his New York Times bestselling book. This powerful story of making a difference through our actions is perfect for helping the post-9/11 generation understand the meaning of this historic day through the eyes of one young man.
“Rinaldi’s young reader edition of his award-winning adult story puts a face on that day (9/11), a hero’s face, and brings to young people someone who stood brave in the toughest of times and who, in the end, was lost doing his best to help others survive.”—VOYA
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
During the World Trade Center attack, many acted with selfless bravery, risking, and often losing, their lives. ESPN correspondent Rinaldi focuses on one of these heroes, a Wall Street junior associate named Welles Crowther. Raised in privilege in New York's Rockland County, Crowther was drawn as child to the local firehouse and eventually joined the company. Although Welles successfully navigated Wall Street after college, by the summer of 2001 he'd decided to become an N.Y.C. firefighter. Welles disappeared in the chaos of the WTC attack, but his family heard reports of a young man who'd guided people to safety from the 78th floor of the South Tower. One clue helped to identify Crowther: survivors said their protector wore a red bandana. Rinaldi crafts a meticulous and vivid portrait of Crowther's life and the desperate hours after the jets hit, including thumbnail sketches of those he aided before the towers fell. All too often, Rinaldi projects anticipatory dread before 9/11, relating that Crowther told a friend "I'm going to be part of something big" as if what happened was somehow predestined. This emphasis on premonition tells readers more about the way humans process tragedy than about Crowther's unquestionable courage and competence. In fact, no such embellishment is needed: the young man's actions speak for themselves.
