In the days following the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in NYC, I was contacted by many friends and family members who were frantically calling to find out if I was ok. My friend Carl, whom I had not spoken with since high school, tracked me down from Arizona where he lived and worked as an elementary school teacher.  Carl told me that many of the children in his class were having a difficult time dealing with all the horrific images they kept seeing of Ground Zero on television and he asked if it would be alright if his kids wrote me letters, as a way of voicing their fears and concerns, instead of keeping them bottled up. I happily agreed, and after receiving the wonderful letters from Carl’s class, I decided to answer them by creating this short picture book about 9/11 and New York’s recovery.

Carl would later tell me that my photo book was so popular with his class that all the other teachers in the school requested to share the book with their students as well. It wound up being what Carl referred to as one of the best teaching tools he ever brought to class. With all the grief that 9/11 brought, knowing I may have helped a few kids deal with their fears about terrorism, is one of the few things that make me smile, when I remember that terrible day. (Click the photos to view a larger, readable image)