In January, I read the book Ground Zero by Alan Gratz. Ground Zero is a historical fiction book with two different stories inside of it. The first one takes place in New York City on September 11, 2001. After getting suspended from school for fighting, a third grader named Brandon is forced to go to his dad’s work since he can’t stay home alone. Brandon’s dad works on the highest story in the North Tower which is unfortunate because on this very day a plane unexpectedly crashes into the tower. This strikes terror into all of the citizens in and around the tower, and Brandon is left to try to escape and survive. The second story is about an eleven year old girl from Afghanistan named Reshmina, who has lived around war for her entire life. Due to this, Reshmina wishes for nothing but peace and harmony. After chaos breaks out in her village, Reshmina comes across an injured American soldier. Even though helping the soldier is the right thing to do, the decision gets tougher when Reshmina considers the fact that this could put her whole family in grave danger.

I enjoyed this book because of the action. I thought that the author did a great job of building suspense and making me feel as if I was there. However, I do wish that Alan Gratz had added some more sensory details throughout the whole book instead of just the action scenes. I found myself losing interest in the beginning and I believe that adding more details would have really taken this book the extra mile.

My favorite character was Brandon because of how faithful he is. I can prove this with a quote from page 53 that states, “‘Please, we need help,’ Brandon cut in, making them jump. ‘Four people. Trapped in an elevator. There’s a lot of smoke—‘“ This quote proves that Brandon is faithful because he stuck to his word, and went to get help. Brandon had previously been stuck in the elevator too, but he was the only one small enough to fit through the gap. While he could have just saved himself and escaped, he stayed true to his promise of finding help and saving everyone.

My favorite quote is on page 4 which reads, “‘We’re a team, he said. ‘We’re a team,’ his dad repeated. ‘That’s what we’ve always said. This is how we survive, right? Together. It’s you and me against the world.” I like this wholesome quote because it shows just how strong the relationship between Brandon and his dad truly is. In this scene Brandon’s dad goes out of his way to tell Brandon that he is there for him, and will always stay loyal.