Love Is the Higher Law
Love Is the Higher Law
David Levithan
Claire, Jasper and Peter are normal New York City teens doing normal things the morning of September 11, 2001. Claire is at school. Jasper slept in. Peter is skipping to go buy a cd. And then the unthinkable happens. Planes hit the two giant towers of the World Trade Center and thousands of people are killed. Although none of the three lose anyone they know in the terrorist attack, it changes their lives and the city they love forever. How can you comprehend such horror in your everyday life? Do you reach out to others, or wrap yourself in isolation? How can you keep living after witnessing such loss?
9/11 may seem like ancient history to teens today, a blip from their childhood. Levithan brings the day and aftermath to life for readers, making them understand the impact it had on the residents of New York, and the rest of us, at a very human level. In Love is the Higher Law, he captures both the horror and the wonder of positive things that came out of 9/11. It is this second set that he wants readers to remember most, that much kindness and caring was a big part of the initial response to the attacks, and that most people did not feel retaliating in violence was the answer. This book does a wonderful job of simply paying tribute to both the lost and the courageously big-hearted living by helping readers understand and remember what it was like to experience 9/11.