Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

This is a beautiful book about a boy processing his grief over his dad’s death in 9/11. For older teens who have no knowledge of 9/11, this is a great book to teach them about the emotions around it at the time. It only includes very broad details about the event itself, as well as the historical falling man picture from that day. It includes a few very brief sex scenes between the boy’s grandparents. The little boy also describes the limited amount that he knows about the “birds and the bees,” using words like “dick,” “cunt,” “VJ,” and “blowjob” (which he describes incorrectly). The educational content far outweighs the brief sexual content of the book.