Yet another recommendation for the Naudet brothers film for immediate effect and the NOVA episodes for more dispassionate analysis.
In case anyone wants a very child-friendly and relatable video – the Reading Rainbow episode entitled The Tin Forest addresses September 11 on a level that young children can understand.
*In the opener, host LeVar Burton meets students at Manhattan’s PS 234, just a few blocks from Ground Zero. The kids receive a “message of hope” from Helen Forrest’s book “The Tin Forest” (read by Jeff Bridges). And they thank people who helped them in the wake of 9/11 by making a video they call “We’re Back Where We Belong.” *
This may be an unusual suggestion, but I recommend this poem about 9/11
Excerpts:
"This is not real. We’ve seen it all before.
Slow down, you’re screaming. What exploded? When?
…
The steel turns red, the framework starts to go.
Jacks clasp Jills’ hands and step onto the sky
…
The air’s deciduous of letterhead
…
My child can’t understand. I can’t explain.
The towers drain out from Boston to LA.
The cellphone is our ganglion of pain."
National Geographic produced a really good documentary a few years back about the lead up to the attacks, called “Inside 9/11.”
Here is the first half hour:
You mentioned books. I can’t recommend 102 Minutes: The Untold Story Of The Fight To Survive Inside The Twin Towers highly enough. An excellent retelling of that day from people in and around the World Trade Center, including the emergency responders.
As mentioned earlier, the movie United 93 is also very good. Some of the managers depicted in the FAA’s Command Center are actually the people who were working there that day.
Thank you again, everyone. I really appreciate the responses. 
Yes, this was a very good book.
It’s on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UcJo7dxOOU
But not only did he and his friend, Dan Hill, predict 9/11–they predicted the 1993 bombing.
Read one of the books about him, Heart of a Soldier by James B. Stewart. You can read extensive previews on Google Books.
One particularly chilling part is this. After the 1993 bombing, Dan Hill (a convert to Islam) went to various mosques in the area to see their reactions. In all but one mosque there was open anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism. “Many applauded the bombing of the WTC, lamenting that it hadn’t done more damage.” Heart of a Soldier - James B. Stewart - Google Books
If you want to see the news unfolding on the actual news channels then the Internet Archive has this. It’s a timeline of multiple news channels including foreign and local networks and videos of most of the actual coverage. Seeing the confusion and speculation and fear is pretty heartbreaking, knowing what we know now.
Rescola was quite a guy. He just happened to be the soldier in the picture on the cover of the book “We Were Soldiers Once..And Young.” The book came out before 911. He just happened to be one of Hal Moore’s officers during the battle of the Ia Drang Valley. LTG Moore has always had nothing but praise for him as a soldier. His son was in my National Guard unit for a while but I didn’t really know him.
Rhett Miller, singer for one of my favorite bands The Old 97s, had an article printed in The Atlantic last year on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. He and his girlfriend were living in an apartment a few blocks from the WTC and barely made it out alive when the towers came crashing down. A really excellent article. I’m writing this on my phone so it’s hard to post a link but I think you can find the article by searching the Atlantic’s website.
