The Man Who Walked Between Two Towers by Moridcai Gerstein

Bibliography

Gerstein, Mordicai. THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN TWO TOWERS. Brookfield, CT: Roaring Book Press, 2003. ISBN 0-7613-2868-8.

Plot Summary

Phillipe Petit decides to walk between the two towers in New York City as they were being built. He said this was something he’d been waiting his whole life to do. This was not a crazy feat as he’d already walked between two pillars on top of Notre Dame Cathedral. After having his friends help him set up his high wire for this act, Phillipe begins his walk high above the city. After being caught, Phillipe is ordered by a judge to perform his high wire acts and feats of bravery for children in the park. The story expresses that while the towers are no longer standing, the memory of them and Phillipe’s acts still live on.

Critical Analysis

The story provides excitement and a daring individual who follows his dream to the top of the world. The story ends with a heartwarming reminder that Americans still remember the symbolism of the two towers as well as Phillipe’s great feat.

The fold out pages in the middle of the book when Phillipe begins to walk across the towers makes the wire he walks across much longer. This allows children to not only have a more interactive experience, but see the wire as a long distance. The building is drawn to show how high it truly was, the little specks of the city below Phillipe. The topography of the city below him spans out as it would appear from Phillipe’s perspective. The colors are muted to show nighttime while the bright blue colors with a huge blue sky are used when Phillipe’s action happens during the day. The drawings are sketch-like drawings that show age as this story is from decades ago. Gerstein’s dreamlike illustrations along with an interesting well-told story provide an uplifting story for children and adults alike.

Awards and Review Excerpts

2004 Caldecott Medal winner

From School Library Journal: “The pacing of the narrative is as masterful as the placement and quality of the oil-and-ink paintings. The interplay of a single sentence or view with a sequence of thoughts or panels builds to a riveting climax. A small, framed close-up of Petit's foot on the wire yields to two three-page foldouts of the walk. One captures his progress from above, the other from the perspective of a pedestrian. The vertiginous views paint the New York skyline in twinkling starlight and at breathtaking sunrise. Gerstein captures his subject's incredible determination, profound skill, and sheer joy. The final scene depicts transparent, cloud-filled skyscrapers, a man in their midst. With its graceful majesty and mythic overtones, this unique and uplifting book is at once a portrait of a larger-than-life individual and a memorial to the towers and the lives associated with them.”

Connections

• Have students describe something they have waited all their lives to do like Phillipe.
• Ask students if they have been to New York City and if they’ve seen where the World Trade Center towers were.
• Have students draw pictures and write stories of where they would walk across a wire. Would it be somewhere high? Somewhere highly populated?