9/11: A Dark Day LEVELED BOOK • Y

A Reading A–Z Level Y Leveled Book

Word Count: 2,017

9/11: A Dark Day

Written by Ned Jensen

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9/11: A Dark Day
Photo Credits:
Front cover: © REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton; back cover: © Ilene MacDonald/
Alamy; title page: © Image Source/PhotoLibrary; pages 3, 12: © Lynn Johnson/
National Geographic Stock; page 4: © David Grossman/The Image Works; page
5: © REUTERS/Sara K. Schwittek; page 6: © REUTERS/Larry Downing; page 8
(top): courtesy of U.S. Air Force; page 8 (bottom): © Win McNamee/REUTERS/
Landov; page 10: © REUTERS/REUTERS GRAPHICS; page 11: © Hubert Boesl/
picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images; page 13 (top): © Andrew Burton/Getty Images;
page 13 (bottom): © Ira Block/National Geographic Stock; page 14: © Jason
Cohn/REUTERS/Landov; page 15: © REUTERS/Jason Reed; page 16: © David
Karp/AP Images; page 17: Everett Collection Historical/Alamy Stock Photo; page
18: JHVEPhoto/Alamy Stock Photo; page 19: © John Leyba/The Denver Post/
AP Images; page 22: © Gavin Hellier/Alamy; page 23: © Greg Dale/National
Geographic Stock

Front cover: People escape the World Trade Center after the attack.

Title page: The Twin Towers stand tall before the attack.

Back cover: A field outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the crash site of Flight 93

9/11: A Dark Day

Level Y Leveled Book Correlation
Written by Ned Jensen © Learning A–Z
Written by Ned Jensen
LEVEL Y
Fountas & Pinnell T
All rights reserved. Reading Recovery 40
www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com DRA 40
 Pedestrians cross
5th Avenue in
New York City.

Introduction
The morning of September 11, 2001, was much
like any other day in New York City. The streets
were choked with traffic, and people filled the
sidewalks as they scurried to work. Horns honked,
and an occasional siren pierced the noisy air.
Emergency workers gaze in awe at the site of the Twin Towers disaster.
At the southern end of Manhattan Island, the
Table of Contents twin towers of the World Trade Center stood like
proud guards over the city. Thousands of workers
Introduction............................................................... 4
exited taxis, buses, and underground subways,
America Under Attack............................................. 5 making their way to their World Trade Center
offices, stacked 110 floors into the sky. High-speed
Twin Towers Collapse............................................ 10
elevators swiftly carried workers upward from the
The Heroes............................................................... 13 street level to their places of work.

The Cleanup............................................................. 15 Then, as if out of nowhere, came the roar of jet

engines overhead. The skyscraper-walled canyons
Who Was Responsible............................................ 17
of the city were used to loud and unusual sounds,
A Swift Response..................................................... 18 but never one like this. As pedestrians looked
skyward, they saw a large passenger jet flying
A New Trade Center............................................... 22
unusually low, headed directly toward the World
Glossary.................................................................... 24 Trade Center.

9/11: A Dark Day • Level Y 3 4

 America Under Attack
Curiosity soon changed to astonished horror
and disbelief as American Airlines Flight 11,
carrying eighty-seven passengers and crew
members, shot like an arrow into upper floors
of the North Tower. Seventeen minutes later,
a second jet carrying sixty passengers and crew
members, United Airlines Flight 175, crashed into
the South Tower. Each crash was immediately
followed by an enormous explosion as the jets,
filled with fuel, erupted into gigantic fireballs.

Sunrise at the U.S. Capitol building (background) five days after a jet
slammed into the Pentagon (foreground)

Not long after, as Americans were getting

news of the Twin Towers tragedy, reports
came of another passenger jet crashing into the
Pentagon, located across the Potomac River from
Washington, D.C. The Pentagon, which houses
offices of the United States military, immediately
The Twin Towers burn after being hit by planes on September 11, 2001.
caught fire. All fifty-nine passengers and crew
members aboard the plane were killed.

9/11: A Dark Day • Level Y 5 6

 The United States was under attack. It was
Leroy Homer Jr: Hero of Flight 93
now clear that these planes had been hijacked
LeRoy Homer Jr. was the First
and intentionally used as missiles to destroy Officer of United Airlines Flight 93.
American landmarks. No one knew yet how Prior to working for United Airlines,
many planes had been hijacked—perhaps he served seven years on active duty
others were still out there. All planes in the in the U.S. Air Force and then rose
air that morning were directed to land, while to the rank of major while serving in
international flights to the United States were the Air Force reserves. Homer was
LeRoy Homer Jr.
rerouted to airports in Canada and Mexico. All air thirty-six when Flight 93 was
hijacked. He was among the crew that fought to keep
traffic other than military aircraft was grounded.
the hijackers from reaching their planned destination.
The skies over the United States fell strangely He is one of several heroes who died when the plane
silent. crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
In fact, one other plane, United Airlines
Flight 93, had been hijacked. Using cell phones, President George W. Bush
passengers aboard the plane learned from friends was visiting an elementary
and relatives on the ground that three other school in Florida when the
hijacked planes had been flown into the Twin first plane and then the
Towers and the Pentagon. Determined not to let second plane crashed into
their plane be used as a weapon, the passengers the Twin Towers. He was
and crew mounted a counterattack against the soon hustled off to his
hijackers. In response, the hijackers rolled the special plane, then escorted
plane over. At 10:03, it crashed into the ground through the air by six fighter
outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Many believe jets. Back at the White House U.S. President George W. Bush
is informed of a second plane
the hijackers’ target was either the United States that evening, he gave a hitting the World Trade Center.
Capitol or the White House, both located in five-minute television speech
Washington, D.C. The brave passengers and crew to the nation, in which he said, “These acts
stopped that attack, but all forty of them died. shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of
American resolve.”

9/11: A Dark Day • Level Y 7 8

 American Airlines 11 United Airlines 175 Twin Towers Collapse
0 200 ME N 0 200 ME N
mi mi In New York City and Arlington, Virginia,
NH VT NH
VT
Boston Boston home of the Pentagon, emergency responders were
NY MA NY MA called into action. After the first plane crashed into
RI RI the North Tower, police and firefighters began
CT
CT
evacuating more than 14,000 workers from both
PA TI
C PA TI
C the North and South Towers. Rescuers were able
NJ N N N N
A A
LA EA NJ L E
AT O C
to quickly remove most of the workers from the
NewYork AT O C NewYork
floors beneath where the planes struck the towers.
• Scheduled Flight: Boston Logan • Scheduled Flight: Boston Logan At 9:59, fifty-six minutes after the second plane
International Airport to Los International Airport to Los smashed into the South Tower, one floor
Angeles International Airport, Angeles International Airport,
departed at 7:59 a.m. departed at 7:58 a.m. collapsed onto another,
• Crash: World Trade Center North • Crash: World Trade Center and the tower came
at 8:45 a.m. South at 9:05 a.m.
crashing down.
American Airlines 77 United Airlines 93 Twenty-nine
N N
0
mi
200 0
mi
200
minutes later, at
PA NY
10:28, the North
OH Dulles Newark Tower collapsed. Floors
77 to
85
Floors
93 to
PA 99
OH NJ
WV VA
Shanksville MD
Escape from Twin Towers
KY
DE Each tower was 110 stories.
NC WV In each tower, 99% of those North
VA
TN
below the crash survived. Tower South
Dotted line represents flight path
when transponder was turned off.
At the impact area Tower
• Scheduled Flight: Dulles • Scheduled Flight: Newark and above, survival was
International Airport to Los International Airport to San limited to just a
Angeles International Airport, Francisco International Airport, handful of people in
departed at 8:10 a.m. departed at 8:10 a.m. the South Tower.
• Crash: West side of Pentagon, • Crash: Shanksville, PA,
9:40 a.m. at 10:10 a.m.

9/11: A Dark Day • Level Y 9 10

 Firefighters charge through the rubble of the Twin Towers.

Many firefighters and police officers died in

the buildings while trying to rescue hundreds
of people trapped by the fires and heavy smoke.
A total of 2,753 victims died as a result of the
attack on the Twin Towers. They included citizens
of more than seventy-five countries, both young
and old. Even years after the attack on the World
Trade Center, the official death toll continues to
increase as people die from lung conditions and
other diseases brought on by the destruction.
The World Trade Center collapse covered New York City in dust and debris. Total Number of Victims Who Died
The South Tower collapsed after 56 minutes, the North after 102 minutes. as a Result of the 9/11 Attacks

World Trade Center: 2,753

The debris from the two towers damaged Source: Associated Press

surrounding buildings and set fires, resulting in the Pentagon: 184

complete destruction of two other buildings nearby. Source: PBS

Many other buildings suffered heavy damage, and Shanksville, PA: 40

Source: USA Today
some were later targeted for demolition.

9/11: A Dark Day • Level Y 11 12

 The Heroes When officials realized the towers were
unstable, they attempted to order the rescuers
Through this
who had entered the towers to evacuate. But
terrible tragedy
faulty communication systems and all the chaos
emerged thousands of
prevented the message from reaching the rescuers.
heroes. They include
A total of sixty police officers also lost their lives,
firefighters, police
as well as eight emergency medical responders
officers, emergency
from private companies.
medical workers,
ordinary citizens, Probably no story of heroism was more
office workers, compelling than that of the dozens of victims
ironworkers, and aboard United Flight 93. The courage of those
others who went to passengers and crew members prevented Flight 93
work removing the from destroying another target and taking more
rubble and searching lives. No one will ever know exactly what
for victims. Some of First responders march in a 9/11 happened, but we do know that those passengers
these heroes made the memorial ceremony at the Pentagon. were heroes.
greatest sacrifice by giving up their lives while
trying to save others.

The heaviest toll for emergency

responders was paid by the New York
Fire Department, which lost 341
firefighters and two paramedics.
Most died when they were
trapped inside the collapsing
Twin Towers.
A fire helmet found at the
World Trade Center site An eleven-year-old girl adjusts a ribbon at the temporary memorial outside
Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Her father was one of forty who died on Flight 93.

9/11: A Dark Day • Level Y 13 14

 The Cleanup The cleanup of the World Trade Center took
Immediately after the collapse of the Twin much longer. An army of ironworkers, heavy-
Towers on 9/11, workers began searching equipment operators, and other workers labored
through and removing the smoking rubble in around the clock. They cut
search of survivors and victims. The site became apart tangled and twisted
known as Ground Zero. At the Pentagon, similar steel and hauled it away from
efforts were taking place to remove debris from the site. They carefully sifted
the damaged building and search for the bodies through the debris, searching
of the victims. Rubble from the Pentagon was for the remains of victims.
cleared, and the building was repaired within After nearly nine months,
a year. A memorial built next to the Pentagon they had removed 1.8 million
building opened to the public exactly seven years tons of steel and concrete
after the attacks. from the site where the Twin Cleanup at the site of the
World Trade Center
Towers once stood. What
remained was a huge hole that became known as
“The Pit.” People began plans to build a new World
Trade Center as well as a memorial to the victims.

In Shanksville, Pennsylvania, people quickly

cleared away the wreckage. They erected a
temporary memorial just five hundred yards from
the crash site. Years later, a permanent memorial
to Flight 93 was built. The Memorial Plaza includes
a black granite walkway where visitors can follow
part of the flight path along the Wall of Names.
The wall is made of forty marble panels that
are inscribed with the names of the passengers
Visitors walk among the benches of the Pentagon Memorial in Washington, and crew.
D.C. The benches represent the184 victims of the attack on the Pentagon.

9/11: A Dark Day • Level Y 15 16

 Who Was Responsible A Swift Response
Who was behind the deadly surprise attack? Immediately following the September 11
Suspicion quickly fell upon an organization of attacks, the U.S. military began preparing plans
terrorists known as Al-Qaeda (al-KY-duh). This to seek out those responsible. Although none
group formed about twenty years prior to the of the men who hijacked the planes were
attacks, when Afghanistan was being invaded Afghan, Al-Qaeda’s operations were based in
by what was then the Soviet Union. At that time, Afghanistan. Less than a month after September
the United States sent money and other support 11, the United States and its allies began bombing
to many resistance groups, hoping to prevent suspected Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.
the invasion. This created a civil war within Attacks were also carried out against the ruling
Afghanistan, which in Taliban, a fundamentalist Muslim group, some
turn allowed Al-Qaeda of whose members provided safe spots for
to form and grow. By 2001, Al-Qaeda within the borders of Afghanistan.
Al-Qaeda’s purpose was to
President Bush and Congress passed the
rid the Middle East of the
Homeland Security Act of 2002, which created
influence of the United States
a new government department—the Department
and Western Europe.
of Homeland Security. Congress also passed the
The Tora Bora caves in A few hours after the USA Patriot Act to help find, arrest, and prosecute
Afghanistan, where the
leader of Al-Qaeda was
attacks, the FBI released terrorists. The Patriot Act allowed the government
the names of nineteen men
believed to be hiding in 2001 to listen in on phone
suspected of hijacking the airplanes. Authorities calls, read email, and
found the suitcase of the hijackers’ leader, which track U.S. citizens' online
contained the names of all nineteen hijackers, activity. Some people
along with other important evidence. criticized it as a violation
of personal freedoms.
Before the end of the day, investigators also
discovered evidence that pointed to Al-Qaeda leader
The U.S. Department of Homeland
Osama bin Laden as the man behind the attacks. Security sign in Washington, D.C.

9/11: A Dark Day • Level Y 17 18

 In March 2003, President Bush claimed For more than three years, Al-Qaeda and its
that Iraq, and its ruler Saddam Hussein, were leader, Osama bin Laden, denied any involvement
manufacturing very dangerous weapons of mass in the attacks. Finally, in 2004, bin Laden publicly
destruction. American troops invaded Iraq, claimed responsibility. He stated that the motive
and Saddam Hussein was executed. However, for the attacks was to punish the United States
evidence proved that there were no weapons of for stationing troops in Middle Eastern countries
mass destruction in Iraq. There was also no clear during the 1991 Gulf War and for its support of
tie between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks. the country of Israel.

In an attempt to prevent future attacks, the

government tightened security along U.S. borders, Islamophobia after 9/11
at shipping ports, and at U.S. airports. Other Shortly after 9/11, President Bush urged Americans
to treat Muslims living in the United States with respect.
countries around the world took similar action.
However, in the following weeks, hate crimes against
In many ways, Muslims increased dramatically. According to the FBI,
life after 9/11 was anti-Muslim hate crimes jumped from 28 incidents in
not the same. 2000 to 481 in 2001. These hate crimes were caused
by Islamophobia—a dislike or prejudice against Islam
or Muslims. Muslims were harassed, physically
assaulted, and even killed by other citizens. They were
also more likely to be targeted in police stops and
random searches. Mosques—Muslim places of
worship—were vandalized. Even people of other
religions, especially people of Middle Eastern and
South Asian descent, were persecuted. A man named
Balbir Singh Sodhi was killed in Arizona by someone
An employee of the who wanted to get revenge for the 9/11 attacks. Sodhi
Transportation Security belonged to the Sikh religion, but was mistakenly
Administration (TSA) gently
wands a three-year-old girl identified as Muslim because of his turban and beard.
before her family travels Between 2000 and 2009, the number of hate crimes
from Denver back to their experienced by Muslims increased 500 percent.
home in Boston in 2003.

9/11: A Dark Day • Level Y 19 20

 A New Trade Center
Soon after the destruction of the Twin Towers,
United
States
people launched plans to build a new structure on
ATLANTIC
PACIFIC OCEAN the site. In 2006, after much debate, construction of
OCEAN
a new tower, One World Trade Center, began. The
INDIAN
OCEAN
tower is one of the tallest buildings in the world. It
was completed in 2014. Other towers are still being
built on the site.
For years the
Afghanistan
United States
pursued bin Israel
Laden. It nearly Pakistan

captured him INDIAN

AFRICA OCEAN India
in eastern
Afghanistan
before he fled across the border into Pakistan. On
May 1, 2011, President Barack Obama announced
that a U.S. Navy team with special training had
launched a raid on a compound in Pakistan where
bin Laden was thought to be hiding. They swiftly
entered the compound and killed bin Laden.

The last American soldiers departed Iraq in 2011.

In August of 2021, President Joe Biden brought U.S.
troops back from Afghanistan. Tens of thousands
of lives were lost in the war. At least 2.2 million
Afghans have had to move to Iran and Pakistan, and
One World Trade Center stands 1,776 feet (541 m) including its antenna—
the war has cost the United States approximately the same number as the year that America claimed its independence from
$2.3 trillion. Great Britain.

9/11: A Dark Day • Level Y 21 22

 In addition to the new buildings, a memorial Glossary
and a museum were built at Ground Zero. The chaos (n.) confusion; lack of order (p. 14)
memorial honors those who lost their lives in the compound (n.) a walled-off area containing a
attacks. It features two large reflecting pools set group of buildings (p. 21)
within a grove of trees. The names of all the debris (n.) scattered pieces of something
victims are inscribed in bronze panels bordering that are left after the rest has
the pools. The memorial also features North been destroyed or is gone
(p. 11)
America’s largest artificial waterfalls. The pools
and twin waterfalls were built within the demolition (n.) the act of destroying something
completely, often by means of
footprints of where the Twin Towers once stood. explosives (p. 11)
The museum tells the story of 9/11 and the evacuating (v.) moving people out of danger
events leading up to the tragic day. It has portraits (p. 10)
of the victims of the attack and artifacts from the fundamentalist marked by a strict following of
original site. The museum’s purpose is to educate (adj.) a set of beliefs, often relating to
religion (p. 18)
the millions of people who visit the site each year.
The hope is that what they learn will help build a hijacked (v.) seized control of a vehicle by
outside force (p. 7)
better future for all people and prevent a tragedy
invaded (v.) entered aggressively to
like 9/11 from ever happening again.
conquer, weaken, or injure
(p. 17)
memorial (n.) something that represents the
memory of a person, place,
thing, or event (p. 15)
resolve (n.) determination (p. 8)
sacrifice (n.) an action or object unselfishly
given to help other people or
a cause (p. 13)
terrorists (n.) people who use terror as a
political weapon (p. 17)

9/11: A Dark Day • Level Y 23 24