TERRORISM: What to Tell the Kids

In Sarah Lynne Reul’s picture book The Breaking News (Roaring Brook Press, 2018), sometimes the news can be frightening and bad – but people can still do small acts for others that still make things better. For ages 4-8.

By Abigail Gerwirtz, When the World Feels Like a Scary Place (Workman, 2020) has advice and conversational scripts about how to help kids deal with the worries and stress brought on by all the problems in the world, from school shootings to climate change.

By child psychologist Dawn Huebner, Something Bad Happened: A Kid’s Guide to Coping with Events in the News (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2019) has suggestions for helping kids ages 6-12 through news of disasters.

By Carla Mooney, Terrorism: Violence, Intimidation, and Solutions for Peace (Nomad Press, 2017) in the Inquire & Investigate series covers the history of terrorism, its causes and effects, and the psychology of recruiting participants to terrorist causes. Included are lists of discussion questions and thought-provoking projects. (For example, interview someone who remembers 9/11 and create a graphic novel or painting based on that interview.) For ages 12-15.

Sean Rubin’s This Very Tree (Henry Holt, 2021) is the picture-book story of the “Survivor Tree,” the pear tree that survived, even after being buried under rubble at Ground Zero after the attack of 9/11. A symbol of hope. For ages 6-9.

Also see Ann Magee’s Branches of Hope: The 9/11 Survivor Tree (Charlesbridge, 2021) for ages 4-7.

By Maira Kalman, Fireboat (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2005) is the picture-book story of the retired New York City fireboat John J. Harvey that helped fight the fires at Ground Zero on September 11. Originally launched in 1931, no one had thought the Harvey would ever work again. An inspiring read for ages 5-8.

By Libby Romero, September 11 (National Geographic Kids, 2021) is a straightforward illustrated account of the attacks on September 11, 2001, and its aftermath for ages 7-10.

In Kate Messner’s Ranger in Time: Escape from the Twin Towers (Scholastic, 2020), Ranger – a time-travelling dog – helps save a family during the attack of 9/11. For ages 7-10.

By Allan Zullo, Heroes of 9/11 (Scholastic, 2026) covers the story of the attacks of 9/11 with accounts of ten heroic first responders. For ages 8-12.

By Nora Raleigh Baskin, Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story (Atheneum, 2017) is the story of four very different kids from different parts of the country whose stories come together in the tragedy of 9/11. For ages 9-12.

By Lauren Tarshis, in I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001 (Scholastic, 2012) – one of the I Survived series – Lucas skips school to take the train to New York City to his Uncle Benny’s firehouse, only to arrive just as disaster strikes. For ages 8-11.

Also see the graphics novel version (Graphix, 2021).

By Don Brown, America Is Under Attack (Square Fish, 2014) in the Actual Times series is a chronological account of the day, illustrated with watercolor paintings, for ages 9-12.

In Saadia Faruqi’s Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero (Quill Tree Books, 2022), it’s the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Yusuf’s Muslim community in Texas is facing prejudice and hostility. For ages 8-12.

By Alan Gratz, Ground Zero (Scholastic, 2021) pairs the story of Brandon, visiting his dad on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, with that of Reshmina in Afghanistan on September 11, 2019. For ages 9-13.

By Crystal Woodman Miller, A Kids Book About School Shootings (DK, 2025) is intended to support conversations – and to encourage readers to be prepared for emergencies, while not letting fear and anxiety become overwhelming. The author herself is a survivor of a school shooting. For ages 5-9.

In Jasmine Warga’s The Shape of Thunder (Storytide, 2022), Cora and Quinn, once best friends, haven’t spoken to each other for a year – since Cora’s sister died in a school shooting and Quinn’s brother was the shooter, who also killed himself. As Cora and Quinn deal with grief, they also join forces in trying to open a wormhole to travel back in time to correct the past. Told in the alternating voices of Cora and Quinn. For ages 8-12.

In K.A. Holt’s This Is Not a Drill (Scholastic, 2022), Ava’s bad day is about to get worse: she was hiding in the bathroom during lunch when the alarm goes off for a lockdown drill. Now all the classrooms are locked – and there’s an intruder in the building. For ages 8-12.

In Niki Smith’s graphic novel The Golden Hour (Little, Brown Ink, 2021), Manuel – after witnessing a terrifying instance of gun violence – eventually heals with the help of new friends and a grass-fed cattle farm. Starred reviews. For ages 8-12.

In Erin Bow’s Newbery Honor winner Simon Sort of Says (Disney Hyperion, 2024), 12-year-old Simon and family have moved to the National Quiet Zone in Grin and Bear I, Nebraska, where the internet is banned and the area is frequented by astronomers searching of signs of extraterrestrial life. The Zone is also intended to be a new start for Simon, who is the only survivor in his class from a school shooting. Bow approaches trauma with sensitivity and humor – and Simon’s is a wonderful voice, simultaneously hilarious, heartbreaking, hopeful, and brave. For ages 9-13.

In Emly Barth Isler’s AfterMath (Carolrhoda, 2021), Lucy – dealing with the loss of her brother to a congenital heart defect – finds herself in a new school in a class filled with the survivors of a school shooting. A story of healing and moving on for ages 10 and up.

In Jamie Sumner’s novel in verse Please Pay Attention (Atheneum, 2026), Bea – confined to a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy – copes with the aftermath of trauma following a school shooting. For ages 10 and up.

In Kathryn Erskine’s Mockingbird (Puffin, 2011) – a National Book Award winner – Caitlin, who has Asperger’s, struggles to deal with the loss of her brother Devon in a school shooting. For ages 10-12.

By Lauren Elizabeth Hogg, a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting, Activist (Zuiker Press, 2019) is the graphic-novel account of her experience and her determination to launch a political movement that will prevent such tragedies from happening again. For ages 11 and up.

Kindra Neely’s graphic novel Numb to This (Little, Brown Ink, 2022) is the memoir of her experience of the mass shooting on her college campus that led to the death of eight students and a professor. For ages 12 and up.

In Lorraine Avila’s The Making of Yolanda la Bruja (Levine Querido, 2024), a new white boy – son of a politician – arrives at Yolanda’s high school, and Yoland begins to have frightening visions of the violence this boy threatens. Themes of racism, gun violence, and injustice paried with magic and spirituality. For ages 12-18.

Gary Paulsen’s The Rifle (Clarion, 2006) is the story of a gun, painstakingly crafted in 1768, carried into the Revolutionary War, and passed down through generations – until tragically, inadvertently, it causes a death. A gripping story and sobering message for ages 12 and up.

By Walter Dean Myers, Shooter (Quill Tree Books, 2005) is the story of a school shooting told from multiple perspectives and through a personal journal, newspaper articles, and police reports. For ages 14 and up.