I Survived: The Attacks of September 11, 2001

Tarshis, Lauren. I Survived: The Attacks of September 11, 2001.
1 July 2012, Scholastic

Lucas loves spending time with his firefighter dad, but after his father is injured in the line of duty, he starts to spend a lot of time with a coworker of his father who helps out, Uncle Benny. Uncle Benny gets Lucas interested in football, but too many concussions make football something that Lucas can no longer be permitted to do. Angry at this diagnosis, Lucas goes into New York City to visit Benny-- just in time to see the World Trade Center bombed. Uncle Benny responds to the call for help, and Lucas's father also arrives, pulling Lucas to safety inside a building when one of the towers collapses. While things, obviously, did not turn out well for many people that day, the ending is not as sad as it could be for Lucas and his family.
Strengths: This is a very short book told from a point of view that middle school students can understand. I liked that included additional information about football and concussions!
Weaknesses: The pictures didn't add a lot to this. Also disappointed that most of the titles in this series are not available in hard back. I will order the Pearl Harbor and Gettysburg one for the library, but the others don't look as interesting.