I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 by Lauren Tarshis

 Summary

Spoiler Warning

    George Clade, ten years old, and Phoebe, his little sister, are in London visiting their Aunt Daisy. They are excited to sail on this well-known boat known as the Titanic. When George gets on board he explores the ship and gets to see the blueprints from the architecture. He hears people talking about a mummy being on board and is eager to find it. At night he sets out to look for mummy and sneaks into the cargo hold. There he is met by a thief, but the boat started to shake and George escapes. He makes it to the deck to see people playing with snow. Turns out that the shaking from earlier was the boat skimming an iceberg. George not thinking much about this goes back to bed. Later that night, a crewman comes to their room telling them to wake up and go to the deck. George and Aunt Daisy wake up and go to wake up Phoebe but she is missing. Luckily Phoebe had left a trail of lemon drops which led her brother and aunt to the gate where the poor were staying. After pleading with the crewmember they were able to enter, only to be locked in. Inside they see Enzo and Marco, a poor father and son trying to start a new life in America, who call them over. There George and Aunt Daisy are reunited with Phoebe. Earlier Geroge got to see the blueprints of the boat so he knew a secret passage to the deck. Once they all arrived at the deck they saw people panicking and getting into lifeboats. Enzo, Phoebe, and Aunt Daisy were able to get on a lifeboat, but George and Marco aren't able to because they are considered men. George and Marco are left with no choice but to jump into the water. In the water, they are able to get on board a makeshift lifeboat, from which they are rescued by a larger ship. On the larger ship, they are reunited with Enzo, Phoebe, and Aunt Daisy. They were all able to make it to America safely.

Rating

    This is a great book. Reading this book brings back a lot of memories from when I used to read this series. I Survived was one of my if not my favorite book series to read back in the day. It made learning about historical events easy and fun compared to having to sit in class and listen to a teacher's lecture. This book is probably a easy read for people in class but that doesn't take away from the fact that this book is very well written. Being the first book of the I Survived series it does a good job of making people interested in reading more of the books in this series. The author is able to do that because of the detail and information he put into her books along with the characters who tell the story and the significance of the historical event. She does a really good job making the book come to life and the reader feel immersed in the book. I would rate this book a 9/10 (4.5/5) and would recommend it to anyone trying to find a fun read but informational read.