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We All Fall Down

Eric Walters - Author

Will is reluctant to spend a school-assignment day at his father’s office, doubting his father will make time for him. The novel is set around the September 11 attacks and follows changes in Will’s life and relationships.

More about this book

Today is September 10, 2001, and Will, a grade nine student, is spending the day at his father’s workplace tomorrow. As part of a school assignment, all the students in his class will be going with their parents tomorrow, but Will isn’t excited about it – he’d rather sleep in and do nothing with his friends. His father doesn’t even have an exciting job like his best friend James’s father, who is a fireman. Will’s dad works for an international trading company and has to wake up early every morning to commute to his office on the 85th floor in the south building of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Will doesn’t see his father very often because of the hours he puts in at the office. He doubts that his dad will bother making time for him tomorrow even when they are supposed to be spending the day together.

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Book Analysis

At a Glance

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FamilyRelationshipsExpectations

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Emotional intensity

Personalised Fit

Beyond the Cover

familyrelationshipsexpectations

FictionNovel

Themes in Context

A father-and-son relationship

Will doubts that his father will make time for him, because his father’s work hours mean they do not see one another often.

How the book presents it: Will’s disappointment and uncertainty frame the relationship through his expectations of the time he and his father will spend together.

Talk about: What might help Will and his father understand what each expects from their time together?

Why It May Be Worth Reading

The book places a strained father-and-son connection alongside a major historical event, giving readers a way to consider how ordinary expectations can be unsettled by events beyond a family’s control.

What Deserves Attention

The story is set during the September 11 terrorist attacks, an event that profoundly changes Will’s life and relationships. Consider whether your reader is ready for a story centred on this historical event.

A Conversation Worth Having

What does Will expect from his father, and whether does spending the day together change how he understands their relationship?

Reading Approach

You could read alongside the book’s historical setting, pausing to distinguish what Will expects from what unfolds. Check in after sections about the attacks and let your reader choose what they want to discuss.

Confidence & Basis

Theme indicators describe how the book presents a topic; they are not a verdict on the whole book or your family's values. Confidence reflects how much book-specific material was checked. Only part of the book information was available, so some details remain unconfirmed.

What remains unconfirmed

A father-and-son relationship: How their relationship develops or resolves is not established.

We All Fall Down - Eric Walters - Google Books

Limited information

Checked: 2 October 2026.

Relevant to: A father-and-son relationship

We All Fall Down by Eric Walters | Open Library