SEVEN AND A HALF TONS OF STEEL by Janet Nolan.  Illus. by Thomas Gonzalez.  Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers, 2016.  32p.  ISBN 978-156145-912-4 hc. $17.95    Gr. 1-4    JNF 623.825

Illustrations begin to tell the story of a plane flying into a skyscraper before the written narration takes over.  Loss of life from September 11, 2001 is gently acknowledged, but the real focus of the book is the rebuilding process that began with one steel girder from the World Trade Center in New York City, weighing in at seven and a half tons.  It was shipped to New Orleans in Louisiana, melted down, and re-shaped into the bow of a ship named the USS New York.  Work on the ship was delayed by several years because of damage done to the New Orleans shipyards by Hurricane Katrina. Finally, in 2009, this warship was complete and commissioned by the U.S. Navy.  To this day, the USS New York is led by the seven and a half tons of steel in its bow that came from Ground Zero, and sails in memory of the people who died on 9/11. 

Lynette Suckow, Superiorland Preview Center, Marquette, MI