The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

When I first heard the title of this book, I thought I had read it before.  It seemed so familiar to me, but as I got into the story, I realized that I had never read it.  I would have definitely remembered it if I had. 


I expected The Man Who Walked Between the Towers to portray the tight rope walk, but I didn't expect it to do so in a manner that made me go back to the day that the towers fell. I didn't expect to feel nostalgic about the morning I watched the twin towers fall. I mean, this was a story about fun, about adventure, about doing something no one else had done. But, as I was reading, I was thinking about how it was a story that will be one of its kind, because it is a story about something no one else will ever be able to do. This would be a great introduction to a conversation about September 11th with a class of students who are learning about that time in history.

The author and illustrator really made me, as the reader, understand who Phillipe Petit was. From the beginning of the book on, it was obvious that Phillipe was a fun loving, adventurous man, who enjoyed performing for others. For him, the leap from walking a rope between trees to walking a rope between buildings was an easy decision. When reading, I could feel his confidence about what he was about to do. He showed that risk was okay, and that, sometimes, you must follow your heart and your dreams.

I enjoyed the framed pictures in this book and how they depicted the events in time order. The illustrator did a great job of connecting the missing pieces through illustrations. I felt like it was a similar feel as a graphic novel, being able to connect events in the book through the pictures, when they weren't fully explained with the text. This book helped me understand the importance of attending to the pictures more. It is not something I always did in the past, and it showed me how much of the story is told within the illustrations.

This is definitely a book that could be used in the classroom. What he did was so outrageous, that it would hook the students' interest about the towers, which would help lead to a deeper discussion.