Some Kids Left Behind

July 15, 2021
A memoir from a student who witnessed the 9/11 attacks and her subsequent fight for survivor health care services. On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Nordstrom was sitting in her classroom at Stuyvesant High School, located a few blocks from ground zero. Following the attacks on the Twin Towers, she and her fellow classmates escaped lower Manhattan. However, one month later, students in the area were ushered back to school on assurance from the Environmental Protection Agency that the air and water quality in the area were safe. According to Nordstrom, returning to school was a major controversy among the student body. Smelling the acrid air as fires continued to burn and witnessing countless loads of debris being removed from the area with trails of dust following, the students knew something wasn't right, but they felt powerless to do anything. Before long, there were reports of cancer and respiratory illnesses among Stuyvesant's teachers, staff, and students. The EPA would later admit they did not have sufficient data at the time to support their initial statement regarding the area's air and water quality. "For us the deaths came later, all from illness," writes the author. Nordstrom candidly chronicles the events she witnessed on 9/11 and her ongoing struggle with PTSD as well as her quest for normalcy and purpose. The author shares moving details about her own and other survivors' struggles, including problems obtaining insurance and differences in services offered to them versus those given to first responders. She discusses her advocacy work bringing to light the survivors' plight, including starting the StuyHealth group, attending Victim Compensation Fund events, and testifying at a House Judiciary hearing alongside Jon Stewart, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi. Regarding her reason for becoming an advocate, the author writes, "this was the only way to exercise agency in a situation in which I had none." Nordstrom also provides helpful information and resources for others interested in pursuing advocacy and community work. A powerful story of dedication and determination.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 1, 2021

Nearly three thousand students at StuyvesantHigh School in lower Manhattan witnessed firsthand the collapse of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center--only three blocks away from the school--on September 11, 2001. On October 9, 2001, less than a month later, federal environmental officials told these students to return to school in the building and falsely promised that there was no health risk in breathing the air, which still emitted a foul odor and contained dust and debris. Nordstrom, who was a senior at Stuyvesant in the fall of 2001, has written a powerful memoir about the experience that's also a call to advocacy. Feeling there should be federal assistance available to take care of her own asthmatic condition, exacerbated by the air quality, Nordstrom investigated and found that many other former classmates at Stuyvesant were also suffering from the effects of the post-9/11 air, including some who later developed terminal cancer, as she describes here. She has become an influential spokesperson and advocate for affordable health care for her fellow students and for other people whom she feels the government has misled and overlooked. VERDICT Nordstrom's detailed narrative offers a balance of seriousness and humor that will enlighten and inspire readers; it belongs on the shelves of every public and school library.--Steve Dixon, State Univ. of New York, Delhi

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.