Escape from the Twin Towers

by Kate Messner

  Gerritsen, Resi, and Haak, Ruud. K9 Search and Rescue: A Manual for Training the Natural Way. Edmonton, Alberta: Dog Training Press, 2014.

  Hammond, Shirley M. Training the Disaster Search Dog. Wenatchee, WA: Dogwise Publishing, 2006.

  Murphy, Dean E. September 11: An Oral History. New York: Doubleday, 2002.

  National Commission on Terrorist Attacks. The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004.

  New York Times. “Accounts From the North Tower.” May 26, 2002, https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/26/nyregion/accounts-from-the-north-tower.html.

  9/11 The Filmmakers’ Commemorative Edition. Directed by James Hanlon, Rob Klug, Gédéon Naudet, and Jules Naudet, performance by Tony Benatatos, Jamal Braithwaite, and Steve Buscemi. Paramount, 2002.

  Kate Messner is the author of Breakout; The Seventh Wish; All the Answers; The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z., recipient of the E. B. White Read Aloud Award for Older Readers; Capture the Flag, a Crystal Kite Award winner; Over and Under the Snow, a New York Times Notable Children’s Book; and the Ranger in Time and Marty McGuire chapter book series. A former middle-school English teacher, Kate lives on Lake Champlain with her family and loves reading, walking in the woods, and traveling. Visit her online at katemessner.com.

  Rescue on the Oregon Trail

  Danger in Ancient Rome

  Long Road to Freedom

  Race to the South Pole

  Journey through Ash and Smoke

  Escape from the Great Earthquake

  D-Day: Battle on the Beach

  Hurricane Katrina Rescue

  Disaster on the Titanic

  Night of Soldiers and Spies

  Escape from the Twin Towers

  Ranger travels back to 1941 Hawaii, where World War II is on everyone’s minds. That includes Ben Hansen, a young sailor stationed at Pearl Harbor, and twins Paul and Grace Yamada, who are making their weekly market trip when Japanese bombs begin to fall from the sky. As the surprise attack puts all of Ranger’s new friends in danger, his search-and-rescue training kicks into high gear. Can he help them survive against all odds? Turn the page for a sneak peek!

  December 5, 1941

  Ben Hansen looked out over the Hawaiian shoreline from the seat of a Kingfisher sea plane. Back home in Minnesota, December meant ice, snow, and air so cold it took your breath away. But here at Pearl Harbor, nearly every day was sunny. In less than a year, the island of Oahu had come to feel like home — but with much more pleasant weather!

  Ben loved looking out at Pearl Harbor, where the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet was stationed — more than a hundred vessels, including eight huge battleships. He loved the flurry of activity along the docks of Battleship Row. He loved the sparkling Pacific Ocean and the gentle winds that rustled the palm trees of nearby Waikiki Beach. That’s where he’d spend his day off tomorrow.

  For now, though, there was work to do. Ben checked his instruments and sent an update to the pilot in the front seat. Ben was a radioman who flew scouting missions along with the Kingfisher pilots. They’d launch from their battleship, the USS Arizona, and soar over the Pacific.

  It was Ben’s job to navigate and communicate with the ship. He took care of all the electronics on the plane, too. When it was time to return to the USS Arizona, the sea plane would land in the waves and maneuver into position. Ben would need to grab a hook dangling from the battleship’s big crane, and he had to be fast! Sometimes the waves threatened to tip him into the sea. But Ben was an expert with the hook. He’d snatch it out of the air and attach it to the plane so the crane could lift them back onto the ship.

  Today, there was no need for that. The USS Arizona was in the harbor, so instead of landing at sea, the Kingfisher touched down on the runway at Ford Island.

  “Got plans for your day of liberty tomorrow?” Ben asked Tom, the plane’s pilot, as they headed back to the ship.

  “Going into Honolulu to buy a Christmas gift for my girl back home,” said Tom.

  “I want to find something nice for my mother and sisters,” Ben said. His two younger sisters lived with his mother, a librarian, back in St. Paul. They both had blonde hair and freckles, like he did. Ben’s father had died a long time ago, when he was very small, so his mother worked hard to take care of the family. As soon as he turned seventeen, Ben had signed up for the navy so he could help out. And he had to admit, he had done it for the travel, too. He’d always wanted to see some of the faraway places he’d read about in the stories his mother had shared.

  Each night before Ben went to sleep in his hammock, he’d take out a poem he kept tucked in his pocket. His mother had copied it onto a card for him and laminated it so it would last longer. The poem was from Ben’s favorite book, When We Were Very Young. His mother had read it every night when he was growing up.

  “Little boy kneels at the foot of the bed,

  Droops on the little hands little gold head.

  “Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!

  Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.”

  Ben held the poem in his hands. The words, penned in his mother’s handwriting, made her feel closer. He still read them to himself every night before he went to sleep.

  After breakfast the next morning, Ben took a small boat to shore with some friends and caught a ride into town. It was December sixth — less than twenty days until Christmas! He couldn’t decide on gifts for his family, but he bought some cards to write and send home.

  Ben and the other servicemen had lunch at the Black Cat Cafe. Ben brought along a rubber spider he’d picked up at the general store and dropped it on his friend Jerry’s hamburger while he wasn’t looking. The poor guy jumped about a mile when he saw it. But then he laughed.

  “Every day is April Fools’ Day when your name is Ben Hansen,” Jerry said.

  After lunch, Ben and his friends split up. Jerry and Chow were in the USS Arizona’s band. Jerry was an ace at clarinet. Chow (short for Chowhound, because he loved to eat) was the best French horn player around. They wanted to be early for the Battle of the Bands at Bloch Arena that night. Everyone would be there! But Ben and his other friends took a few more hours to enjoy the beach. They stretched out in the sand and rode the waves until the sun sank low in the sky.

  They caught a ride back to Pearl Harbor in time to hear the bands. Ben didn’t play an instrument, but he loved tapping his feet the music. He hummed along to “There’ll Be Some Changes Made” and “Georgia on My Mind.” At the end of the night, he watched the jitterbug contest. A little girl who’d come to see the bands with her father stole the show, dancing with a sailor from the USS Tennessee.

  It was after midnight when Ben got back to the ship and climbed into his hammock. He’d be back on duty in the morning. Even on free days, it was hard to forget the fleet’s mission in Hawaii. President Roosevelt had sent them here because of threats from Japan. Some people were even saying the Japanese might attack the fleet!

  The rumors made Ben wonder. The American Navy was the best of the best. They were skilled. They were well trained. They were prepared for anything. Ben couldn’t imagine the Japanese would dare to think about an attack. But if they did, he and his fellow servicemen would be ready.

  December 7, 1941

  Paul Yamada squinted into the sun as he pulled on the oars of his family’s sixteen-foot rowboat. He made this trip every Sunday, bobbing over the waves of Pearl Harbor to Ford Island to sell eggs from the family’s chickens. It was about a mile — a long way to row so early in the morning. Paul was twelve but strong for his age, and so was his twin sister, Grace. He was glad she’d come along to help today. Once they reached Ford Island, they’d load up the pushcart they kept at the dock and go door-to-door with their eggs.

  The Yamada family grew vegetables and raised chickens in coops behind their house. It was a lot of work. Paul and Grace had an older sister named Helen who was busy learning to become a nurse. S
o the work of collecting eggs always fell to Paul and Grace. Each afternoon, they would pick the eggs from the coops, clean them, pack them into boxes, and deliver them to the market.

  Paul’s and Grace’s grandfather, their ojiichan, had been a farmer back in Japan, where he’d grown up. But farmers struggled there and had to pay high taxes. When he heard that immigrants were being hired in Hawaii, he made the journey across the sea to the island of Oahu.

  There, he found work on a sugar plantation. He saved and saved his money until he could build the small house where the Yamada family lived today. It was in a neighborhood with many other Japanese American families, including Paul’s best friend Jimmy Abe. Jimmy was always game to make stilts out of sticks to race Paul and Grace around the yard. When they were too tired to stilt-race anymore, they’d sit in the shade and read Captain America comic books. Paul’s favorite was the one with Captain America punching Nazi leader Adolf Hitler on the cover.

  Paul had heard all about the war in Europe on his father’s radio. He knew that Hitler’s German army had invaded Poland two years ago, and was storming his way through the rest of Europe. And Paul knew that Japan was also invading other nations. Just five months ago, Japan had seized Indochina. Lately, there had been whispers that Japan might attack the United States. Maybe even here in Hawaii!

  Text copyright © 2020 by Kate Messner

  Illustrations by Kelley McMorris, copyright © 2020 Scholastic Inc.

  This book is being published simultaneously in hardcover by Scholastic Press.

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

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  While inspired by real events and historical characters, this is a work of fiction and does not claim to be historically accurate or portray factual events or relationships. Please keep in mind that references to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales may not be factually accurate, but rather fictionalized by the author.

  Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

  Names: Messner, Kate, author. | McMorris, Kelley, illustrator.

  Title: Escape from the Twin Towers / Kate Messner ; illustrated by Kelley McMorris.

  Description: New York, NY: Scholastic Inc., 2020. | Series: Ranger in time ; 11 | Summary: Ranger the time-travelling Golden retriever was trained for search-and-rescue and even though he did not pass the tests he has used his training on his many trips to help people caught up in disasters; now he has arrived at the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001 just as the first plane hits, and he must rescue fifth-graders Risha and Max who are trapped in the wreckage, guide them to safety, and hopefully reunite them with Risha’s mother who works on the ninety-first floor. | Includes bibliographical references.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2018060392 (print) | LCCN 2019000798 (ebook) | ISBN 9781338538137 (Ebook) | ISBN 9781338537949 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781338537956 (jacketed library binding)

  Subjects: LCSH: World Trade Center (New York, N.Y. : 1970-2001)—Juvenile fiction. | Golden retriever—Juvenile fiction. | Time travel—Juvenile fiction. | September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001—Juvenile fiction. | Search and rescue operations—New York (State)—New York—Juvenile fiction. | Missing persons—Juvenile fiction. | New York (N.Y.)—History—21st century—Juvenile fiction. | CYAC: World Trade Center (New York, N.Y.: 1970-2001)—Fiction. | Golden retriever—Fiction. | Dogs—Fiction. | Time travel—Fiction. | September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001—Fiction. | Rescue work—Fiction. | Missing persons—Fiction. | New York (N.Y.)—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.M5615 (ebook) | LCC PZ7.M5615 Es 2020 (print) | DDC 813.6 [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018060392

  First printing 2020

  Cover art by Kelley McMorris, © 2020 Scholastic Inc.

  Cover design by Ellen Duda and Stephanie Yang

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-53813-7

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