In what's sure to be a definitive work commemorating the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, Hopkinson offers a well-researched and fascinating account of the disaster. On Monday, April 15th, 1912, the magnificent Titanic sank after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Of the 2,208 people on board, only 712 survived. It's a well-known story, though maybe not to young readers, who, if anything, might have seen the movie. Hopkinson orchestrates a wealth of material here, using a third-person narrative voice to tell the story while incorporating eyewitness accounts of people on the "most luxurious ship the world had ever seen." A huge number of archival photographs and reproductions of telegrams, maps, letters, illustrations, sidebars and even a dinner menu complement the text, yielding a volume as interesting for browsing as for through-reading. The voices include a stewardess, a science teacher, a 9-year-old boy, the ship's designer, the captain and a mother on her way to a new life in America. Best of all is the author's spirit: She encourages readers to think like historians and wonder what it would have been like on the Titanic and imagine each character's story. Fifty pages of backmatter will inform and guide readers who want to know even more. A thorough and absorbing recreation of the ill-fated voyage. (Nonfiction. 8-16)

Gr 6 Up-As the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic approaches, there is a whole new output of books reexamining and updating the information about the tragedy. This one weaves together the memories and writing of the survivors, and what makes it stand out is the intimacy readers feel for the crew and passengers. The story itself hasn't changed, but through Hopkinson's work, young people get to know and care deeply about the people involved. Children, stewards, officers, and passengers from all three class designations are included, and their stories combine to recount the events of that fateful April night. Readers with even a passing knowledge of the Titanic will find themselves drawn into the drama and heartbroken at the inevitable end. Period photographs, artwork, diagrams, and maps appear throughout to illustrate points and help clarify events. Traditionally accepted details about the ship from its construction to its luxurious appointments, are discussed, and some of the controversies that have arisen since the wreck was found, but the real focus here is on the people and the narrative. Students looking for real-life drama will find this an absorbing and richly satisfying read.— Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA

This sturdy synthesis of the events leading up to, during, and following the Titanic disaster is, like other books of its kind, a model of minute-by-minute reconstruction. What gives Hopkinson's effort a unique flavor is her almost exclusive use of the recollections of survivors as her source material, giving the tale we know so well a grittier, far less mythic feel. Legends are dispelled (the third class was not held back by locked gates) and little-known opinions are voiced (a head-on collision with the iceberg may have been preferable to the sideswipe). The prose can be a bit pat at times, and though some poetic license is taken ("Looking at photographs, it's almost as if one can still hear the rustle of satin dresses"), the firsthand recollections have an immediate feel rticularly during the moments when each person first realizes the ship is beginning to list. Back matter, meanwhile, is exemplary: detailed bios, survivor letters, a time line, facts and figures, wreckage reports, lifeboat launching sequences, and excellent source notes are only some of what researchers will find waiting for them.

Hopkinson provides young readers with a basic introduction to the event without overdramatizing, drawing unwarranted conclusions, or prolonging the ordeal. Her "characters," real survivors whose voices relay many of the subsequent events, include crew members as well as travelers in first, second, and third class. Chapter notes, sources, archival photos, a timeline, short biographies of those mentioned, and more are included. Bib., glos., ind.

In what's sure to be a definitive work commemorating the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, Hopkinson offers a well-researched and fascinating account of the disaster. On Monday, April 15th, 1912, the magnificent Titanic sank after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Of the 2,208 people on board, only 712 survived. It's a well-known story, though maybe not to young readers, who, if anything, might have seen the movie. Hopkinson orchestrates a wealth of material here, using a third-person narrative voice to tell the story while incorporating eyewitness accounts of people on the "most luxurious ship the world had ever seen." A huge number of archival photographs and reproductions of telegrams, maps, letters, illustrations, sidebars and even a dinner menu complement the text, yielding a volume as interesting for browsing as for through-reading. The voices include a stewardess, a science teacher, a 9-year-old boy, the ship's designer, the captain and a mother on her way to a new life in America. Best of all is the author's spirit: She encourages readers to think like historians and wonder what it would have been like on the Titanic and imagine each character's story. Fifty pages of backmatter will inform and guide readers who want to know even more. A thorough and absorbing recreation of the ill-fated voyage. (Nonfiction. 8-16)