I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001 by Georgia Ball

There’s an emotional layer that I don’t feel as acutely as when I’m writing about an event from the distant past.

TARSHIS: Writing about recent events is far more challenging and delicate for me because in some cases I’m writing stories at the request of people who have been through disasters - like Hurricane Katrina, the Joplin tornado, and the California Wildfires. Does this proximity to the present day have an effect on how you approach the story, narratively or aesthetically? KAPLAN: While many of the books in the I Survived series center more distant historical events, I Survived: The Attacks of Septemcenters events from the past two decades. They are experiencing the events through the eyes of the fictional character in a more immersive way than if they’re just reading dry facts. The fictional characters in my stories enable me to do this.ĬOREY EGBERT: I think it puts the reader in a different psychological state. My job is to make these topics relevant to them, to engage them, to help them see the connection between what happened in the past and their life today.

Helens or The Molasses Flood, or they’re topics many kids never imagined they be interested in, like Gettysburg or the Revolutionary War. I know many of the topics are completely unknown to them, like Mt.

So many of the topics in my I Survived series are far removed from my readers’ lives. I think this is especially true for kids learning about history. LAUREN TARSHIS: I think it boils down to the power of stories, how we absorb information so much better when it’s conveyed as a story. What is it about historical fiction that makes it such a uniquely effective way of conveying information about the past? Read on to discover more about what goes into centering a more recent historical tragedy, how graphic novel adaptations can connect struggling readers with nonfiction, and what role historical fiction can play in keeping readers informed!ĪVERY KAPLAN: In the I Survived series, stories about real historical events are told through the perspective of fictional protagonists. The Beat had the opportunity to ask Tarshis and Egbert all about I Survived: The Attacks of Septemover email. The latest (and fourth) in the series to be adapted into a graphic novel from Scholastic Graphix is I Survived: The Attacks of September 11, 2001, illustrated by Corey Egbert and with a script by Georgia Ball. In the I Survived prose series by Lauren Tarshis, young readers are given the chance to better understand nonfiction tragedies thanks to well-researched historical fiction narratives that give a kid’s eye view of surviving world-shaking events.

I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001 by Georgia Ball