The Man Who
Walked Between the Towers
Gerstein, M. (2003). The man who walked between the
towers. New York, NY: Scholastic.
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers is the winner of
the 2004 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Picture Books, the winner of the
2006 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video and the 2004 Caldecott
Medal.
This historical fiction book depicts a true event in Philippe Petit’s
life. In 1947 Philippe broke the law and
walk a tightrope stretched between the Twin Towers. This book did a wonderful
job describing the events that led up to his amazing, daredevil stunt.
The illustrations
on the first page depicted the Twin Towers standing in their glory and the text
reads “Once there were two towers side by side.
They were each a quarter of a mile high; one thousand three hundred and forty
feet. The tallest buildings in New York
City.” Right on the first page the
author is foreshadowing the tragic
events of 9/11.
The layout design of the book with
several pull out pages added to the excitement and thrill of this dare devilish
stunt. This effect gave the reader a
clear understanding of the great distance between the two towers.
I personally like how the illustrations where double spread across two pages to show the vast distance from one building to the other. I also liked how the illustrations were laid out with several scenes to show the progression of time.
The following website has great ideas for how to use this book to
teach character traits.
Common Core Standard
RL.3.3: Describe
characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) explain
how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
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