86. I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912

I Survived The Sinking of the Titanic, 1912. Lauren Tarshis. Illustrated by Scott Dawson. 2010. 112 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: The Titanic was sinking. The gigantic ship had hit an iceberg. Land was far, far away. Ten-year-old George Calder stood on the deck. He shivered because the night was freezing cold. And because he was scared. More scared than he'd ever been before.

Premise/plot: George, our young hero, is sailing with his sister, Phoebe, and his Aunt Daisy on board the Titanic. The good news? The title reassures readers that George will in fact survive to tell the tale. The bad news? Well, the other characters may or may not be so lucky. (After all, this isn't We Survived The Sinking of the Titanic.) 

The book chronicles George's last day on the Titanic (well, really more like the last day and a half). During this time, he fits in a flashback with a panther. (I'm not lying).

My thoughts: I would respect the I Survived series more if they didn't try to do too much. Like fit in a flashback episode with a panther. I remember another I Survived story fitting in a flashback with a rattle snake (or possibly another kind of dangerous, poisonous snake). Because if you're in the middle of a blizzard, of course, you're going to take your mind off of it by thinking about snakes. I've only read a handful of books maybe there are more examples? Maybe these are two rare exceptions? Quite possibly I'm just not the target audience for these! 

I do like the humor and lightness of this one. There's not really a sense of DREAD and DOOM. After having read a YA book where there is an overwhelming sense of dread and doom, it was a relief to take a few steps back and settle into a book where there's some comfort in knowing that the book characters aren't going to die even if they are on the Titanic.

It's not that I disliked the book or thought it awful--I didn't. I will say that ANY book (or almost any book) that gets a young person interested in both a) HISTORY and b) reading history and historical fiction is worth it. I mean that.

© 2021 Becky Laney of Young Readers