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Ground Zero - Alan Gratz - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Stood up for a friend
      - heroic - rescued elevator chums
      - perseverant - talks about skate boarding and how you can never give up when you fall
    - - Brandon stuck in elevator when plane hits
      - Brandon escapes the elevator when his chums break through the dry wall
      - Brandon gets banker dudes to help him break through the drywall to rescue his chums...just in time
      - Brandon decides to leave the elevator group to walk up the stairs to find his dad. Falls down the stairs/no railings.
      - Brandon almost falls out of the building. Is saved by Richard, who he first saw on the escalator that morning.
      - Brandon and Richard try to walk up to the top of the building, but the stairs are blocked at the 93rd Floor
      - Brandon witnesses people jumping from the building
      - Brandon and Richard find more people stuck in an elevator. A woman jumps through blue flames and is badly burned. The elevator falls.
      - Brandon talks to his dad on the phone while the second plane hits the other tower. His dad tells him to get out of the building, to stay with Richard and to do something good with his life
      - Richard and Brandon continue walking down the stairs. They get separated at one point, but are reunited. They continue to see bodies falling from the top of the building. They make it safely to the mall under the tower. The tower collapses above them.
      - Brandon is alone after the explosion - he can't find Richard. He finds two other adults (Gayle and B<Indian man's name>. He finds Richard when Richard is singing "This Land is Our Land." Brandon leads the way in the dark and gets everyone outside. Brandon sees that the South Tower has fallen
      - Brandon and Richard safely cross the bridge out of Manhattan and get to Richard's house. Brandon calls his home and leaves a message for his dad, knowing his dad will never hear it.
      - We learn that Brandon is Taz. He carried the Tasmanian Devil stuffy away from the WB store after the tower collapsed. He joined the army when he was 18 to get revenge for 9/11
      - Taz/Brandon questions leaving the army. Wants to use both hands to help (not have a gun in one hand). "Not us against the world. It's all of us together."
  - - - kind/caring
        
        agrees to stay with Brandon and keep him safe for a few days
        
        refers to Brandon as "my kid"
- - - - We see Reshmina become more confident throughout the story.
    - - sister killed by American soldiers
      - house raided by American soldiers looking for weapons and Taliban members
      - Reshmina finds a blind soldier - does she help him?
        
        Reshmina finds the injured special forces soldier, Taz . Her father agrees to walk to the American Special Forces base to tell them they have the soldier. Pasoon takes off to tell the Taliban they have an American soldier. Reshmina runs to stop her brother
      - Reshmina almost falls off a cliff. Soldier in Apache points a gun at her
        
        Pasoon saves her
        
        Reshmina fantasizes about being one of the nomadic Kochi people
      - Pasoon pushes Reshmina to the ground and says that it is her fault if the Taliban kills their family. He fires his gun to signal the Taliban and runs away.
      - Reshmina gets home to warn her family. They disguise Taz in a burqa and Reshmina convinces everyone to go and hide in the caves. When they are leaving, a missile hits and destroys her home. American helicopters arrive.
      - Once they arrive in the caves, there is an explosion and the cave entrance collapses. They are trapped. Reshmina gets angry at Taz, blaming the Americans for everything that has happened.
    - - caring - decides to help the soldier even though she could be arrested
      - brave - runs to stop her brother from reaching the Taliban, tries to trigger the land mine. Speaks her mind to Taz - says that the Americans are bullies who make things worse.
  - - - dropped out of school, wants to join the Taliban
      - runs away to tell the Taliban that there is an American soldier at the house
      - Apache helicopter drops a missile near him, Reshmina thinks he is dead. He survives.