Module 3: The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

Book Summary

This 2004 Caldecott Medal winning book tells the story of the French man Philippe Petit who tight-rope walked between the Twin Towers in New York City. Using both visual and prose story telling, this book shows the daring steps Petit took back in 1974. Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, this book also makes a point of highlighting a joyful side of the lost towers. 

APA Reference of Book
Gerstein, M. (2003). The man who walked between the towers. United States: Roaring Book Press. 

Impression
This book is a fantastic book from both a curricular standpoint and from judgment of the illustrations. As the story progresses step by step of Petit's infamous walk between the towers, the illustrations are set in a frame-by-frame sequence. There are two pull out illustrations that show the expansive distance between the two towers and the massive height of the towers. Now that we have lost these towers, it is important to have literature that tells the story beyond the tragedy that brought them down. This story works as a biographical tale, historical context, and the power of great illustrations. 

Professional Review
Gerstein, Mordicai. The Man Who Walked between the Towers. 2003. 40p. illus. Roaring Brook, $17.95 (0-7613-1791-0); lib. ed., $24.90 (0-7613-2868-8). 791.3. PreS–Gr. 3. Here’s a joyful true story of the World Trade Center from a time of innocence before 9/11. In 1974 French trapeze artist Philippe Petit walked a tightrope suspended between the towers before they were completed. Gerstein’s simple words and dramatic ink-and-oil paintings capture the exhilarating feats, the mischief, and the daring of the astonishing young acrobat. He knew his plan was illegal, so he dressed as a construction worker, and, with the help of friends, lugged a reel of cable up the steps during the night and linked the buildings in the sky. As dawn broke, he stepped out on the wire and performed tricks above the city. Gerstein uses varied perspectives to tell the story—from the close-up jacket picture of one foot on the rope to the fold-out of Petit high above the traffic, swaying in the wind. Then there’s a quiet view of the city skyline now, empty of the towers, and an astonishing image of the tiny figure high on the wire between the ghostly buildings we remember. —Hazel Rochman

Rochman, H. (2003). The man who walked between the towers (book). Booklist, 100(5), 298. 

Library Uses
I think this book would be a great book to use as a story time during the week of September 11th. Another use would be in conjunction with a study on illustrations and the power of frames and/or proportions in illustrations.