Caldecott Award Winning Book #4

The Man Who Walked Between The Towers

by Mordicai Gerstein

This book won the Caldecott Medal for 2004. The story is set in 1974 and is about a young French aerialist, Phillipe Petit. Just as the World Trade Center was being completed, Phillipe threw a tightrope between the two tours and spent almost and hour walking, dancing, and performing tricks a quarter of a mile in the sky. Petit's high wire walk has remained part of the history of the World Trade Center and New York City. The ink and oil paintings are lovely. I think part of the allure of this book is the interesting story of what Phillipe found the courage to do and the illustrations of the towers as they stood from 1974 until the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The story tells how he is arrested and how the judge sentences him to perform in the park for the children of the city. The end of the book says and shows that the towers are now gone, "But in memory, as if imprinted on the sky, the towers are still there. And part of the memory is the joyful morning, August 7, 1974, when Philippe Petit walked between them in the air." This part of the story made me emotional as I recalled watching the towers fall on 9/11 and all the lives that were lost.