Deborah Hopkinson’s award winning informational text, “Titanic: Voices From the Disaster� explores the tragic sinking of the RMS Titanic in a way thatDeborah Hopkinson’s award winning informational text, “Titanic: Voices From the Disaster� explores the tragic sinking of the RMS Titanic in a way that accurately captures both human and historical elements of the event. Hopkinson’s Sibert Medal winner describes the 1912 voyage of the Titanic from the perspectives of multiple different passengers that were aboard the “unsinkable� ship when she struck ice and descended to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. “Titanic: Voices From the Disaster� is a captivating read that emulates the horrible disaster that occurred on April 15th, 1912.
When I was young, I developed a deep fascination with the nautical mechanics of the RMS Titanic. I found it so interesting to study the events that led up to the disaster that changed mankind and our relationship with the naval world. This past summer, my dad and I visited the Titanic Artifact Exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada. Vegas’s exhibition is home to the largest recovered artifact from the ship - a fifteen ton piece of the ship’s hull called “The Big Piece�. Standing just feet away from the artifact was surreal. I imagined how many people had stared at the piece over one hundred years prior, unaware of what was to come. In trying to share the facts and information behind historical events, many museums and works of nonfiction lose the human aspect of the event. However, Hopkinson’s informative text accurately depicted the emotion and life that the RMS Titanic carried with her on her journey. Hopkinson’s vivid personal accounts allow readers to imagine and memorialize the real people who were passengers aboard the ship.
In addition to being able to share the tales of the unique men, women, and children aboard, “Titanic: Voices From the Disaster� also provides readers with interesting and important information about the ship and her people. Hopkinson’s choice of narrative subjects, pictures, and supplemental facts together make her book an informative and interesting read. Hopkinson’s book would be very useful in the elementary classroom because it allows young readers to expand their knowledge on the historic event of the sinking of the RMS Titanic while also challenging them to make sense of a society that existed before them....more
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