Escape from . . . the Titanic

Patrick, a 13-year-old Irish crew member who delivers messages throughout the Titanic, befriends Sarah, a 10-year-old American girl who boards the ocean liner for its maiden voyage. Over several days, he takes her around the ship, introducing her to crew members and his cousins. Along the way, Sarah overcomes her former prejudice against the Irish. On the night of Patrick’s and Sarah’s shared birthday, when disaster strikes and the ship sinks, they do what they can to survive until rescued. Many details within the informative, exciting narrative are based in history, and sidebars filling in the facts will bolster the story’s believability for young readers. One “Reality Check” box evaluates a cook’s tale about a ship’s cat, Jenny, taking her kittens off the Titanic and a superstitious crew member trusting Jenny’s instincts and leaving, too. Wide-spaced lines of type and a sprinkling of full-page black-and-white illustrations give the book an appealing look. A good beginning for the Escape From … historical fiction series, which will include the simultaneously published Escape from … Pompeii and, later this year, Escape from … Hurricane Katrina. * Booklist *
With a prologue that spells out the issues on the Titanic, this book foreshadows disaster. Patrick Kelley, an Irish bellboy set to turn 14 on the ship, and Sarah Walsh, a young white passenger headed back to her family in Boston, are thrown together in an unlikely match, with little in common except their Irish backgrounds. Both Sarah and Patrick share a birthday, and it is through this connection and a lot of sneaking around on the ship that their friendship solidifies. While they are having their go of enjoying the finest that White Star Line’s Titanic can offer to lower-class cruisers, they discover that an iceberg has torn part of the ship and trouble is imminent. The plot is told in short chapters with nonfiction vignettes woven in. * School Library Journal *

Mary Kay Carson is the author of more than fifty books for young people about wildlife, space, weather, nature, and history. After studying biology in college, and a stint in the Peace Corps, she began her writing career working on the classroom magazine SuperScience. Her books have received more than a dozen starred reviews, as well as multiple awards, including the 2019 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books for Alexander Graham Bell for Kids. She’s written six titles in HMH’s acclaimed Scientists in the Field series, including The Bat Scientists, an ALA 2011 Notable Children’s Books for Middle Readers, and The Tornado Scientist, a State Library of Ohio Choose To Read Ohio (CTRO) title for 2021-22. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband in a century-old house surrounded by urban greenspace, deer, hawks, woodchucks, and songbirds.

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