TWU LS 5603 - Picture Book Reviews - THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN THE TOWERS

BIBLIOGRAPHY #1

Gerstein, Mordicai. 2003. THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN THE TOWERS. Brookfield, CT: Roaring Book Press. ISBN 0761317910

PLOT SUMMARY
This picture book is an account of Philippe Petit’s 1974 daring tightrope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. As a street performer, Philipe plans and carries out an amazing feat of bravery by installing the tightrope and spending an hour between the towers before being arrested and sentenced to perform for the children in the park below.  

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Gerstein’s writing begins with simple, short sentences.  As the story builds and incorporates suspense and secrecy, the sentence composition is longer with more descriptive passages and numerous commas which allow the reader to take small short breaths adding to the emotional tension in the story. There is a foreshadowing of the story’s climax by the illustrations and text at the beginning where a small figure is seen in the corner of the opening illustration staring up at the enormous towers. The vocabulary is relatively simple with illustrations used for word discovery.  For example the word “unicycle” may not be familiar to young readers in print alone, but the added illustration yields the word from the reader.

The colors chosen in the night illustration scene reflect both the time of day and the emotional state of the main character which in effect results in the reader sharing the same feelings during the story.  The dark colors of blue, green and gray for the night-time scene also add to the “darkness” in breaking the law by crossing the towers. The unique, fold-out pages extend the illustration and the reader’s perspective with relation to height in following the main character on his journey across the rope. The extended illustrations can be a tool of discussion about architecture, math, urban living and geography.  

This book ends with a non-descript statement of the fact that the towers are no longer standing.  This book will require some pre-planned accurate answers for why the towers are no longer standing, based on the reader’s age, community, and school environment.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S) New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year, 2003 Winner United States

The Boston Globe – Horn Book Award Winner, 2004Randolph Caldecott Medal, 2004 Winner United States

Starred review in SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “The pacing of the narrative is as masterful as the placement and quality of the oil-and-ink paintings.”

CONNECTIONS

Sobol, Richard and Hudson, Cheryl. CONSTRUCTION ZONE. ISBN 0763626848

·         Partner this book in discussing the procedures in construction and massive structure that was the World Trade Center.

Levy, Debbie. THE WORLD TRADE CENTER. ISBN 0737720719

·         Partner this book in discussing the World Trade Center as a great structure in history as compared to the famed Eiffel Tower and its 2001 demise.

Kimmel, Eric. Ill. By Mordicai Gerstein. THREE SAMURAI CATS: A STORY FROM JAPAN. ISBN 0439692563

·         Partner this book in discussing the violence in the destruction of the World Trade Center with the outcome of this book to discover that violence is not a solution to a problem.