21 Days at Ground Zero: A Young Volunteer's Story

This kid tells it like it was. Heartwarming and heartbreaking narrative. She put her life at risk more than once, working near buildings that might topple at any time (and a few did). I recommend it for any teenager and any New Yorker. Those of us who live in NY understand what courage it took for any adult--much less a kid--to continue to live and work in that smoke-filled area. Kudos to this brave young writer!

I found this book riveting from the very first page. This is a brave kid telling what it was like to be at Ground Zero for three long weeks. She writes simply, from the heart, but there is power in her earnestness. As a reader, I felt I was there experiencing each devastation or triumph of the spirit with her. Since the author now works with the families of Cantor Fitzgerald, she is to be commended for considering their feelings and not being as graphic as some other books. Believe me, she gets her points across without sensationalism. I found some passages chilling, and shed a few tears along the way. This author is an example to other young people of how to get off your duff and do something to help your fellow man.

Very moving, told in a youthful but NOT childish manner. Brought tears to my eyes more than once. ALL should read this - should be required reading for all teens, that's for sure! Reads rapidly and when you're done, you feel like you were *there*. Also might be a good gift, I know I already got a couple extras and gave them to friends who all liked them!

I thought Juliet McIntyre did a fine and sensitive job of explaining her job as a volunteer and what everyday life was like at Stuyvesant High School, where the rescue operations were housed after 9/11. Considering her young age and the fact that she spent much of her time running the 5th floor, she still had a keen sense of how the work at the pit was progressing thanks to the rescue workers themselves. I also thought her descriptions of the destruction of the Winter Garden and Borders Bookstore, plus standing near the pit with the ash blowing on her, to be quite chilling. I felt as though I were there touring the site with her. Finally, I thought she gave insight into the activities of the Volunteer Ministers; many of us New Yorkers were aware of their efforts after the attack because we saw them there in their yellow shirts. But Juliet has filled in background data that gives a more complete picture of their contributions. I would recommend this book for adults and young adults. For young people, she sets an example by having reached out in her community to help, despite the personal dangers. For adults, one reads her words and thinks that no young girl should have to see the things she did and hear the things she heard. That's why her voice is important, and her book adds new facts and a different insight into the WTC tragedy.

Simply yet powerfully written, this book could be called "Anne Frank at Ground Zero." With a dignity belying her years, Juliet McIntyre gives a "you are there" account of the horrors of Ground Zero, including the finding of gruesome body parts and the comforting of grief-stricken rescue workers whose clothes reeked of fire and death. That she came out of the experience still able to believe in the goodness of man brought this reader to tears. I hope that when they hand out medals for the heroes of Ground Zero, they do not forget this young girl. God bless you!