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“Don’t you know what happens in the end?�� My husband could not understand why I wanted to leave the dinner table early to finish this book. Yes, of course, I know the ending, but Hopkinson’s writing had me in its grip �� one of the reasons this book was awarded a Sibert Honor Award for Nonfiction 2012. I hesitated in reading this book because I thought it would be primarily biographical and narrative in nature. Turns out �� this is very much a blended text with a great deal of non-narrative information towards the beginning of the book describing the physical features of the Titanic with all of its amenities. Hopkinson introduces people who worked on the ship and those who were passengers �� only through what the people wrote in letters or said at some point after the tragedy �� if they survived. So the text has the feel of a documentary. She doesn’t take license and assume what they must have been feeling or saying (like Bill O’Reilly does in Lincoln’s Last Days �� ugh). The lives of the passengers and the crew are threaded together and then surfaced throughout the text �� from the weeks of preparation before the departure of the Titanic from it’s home in Belfast, Ireland to the arrival of the survivors in New York on the Carpathia. The survivors�� stories are pieced together to create suspense and then to dramatize the moments before and as the ship went down and then the hours spent waiting for rescue.

I’d recommend this for proficient readers �� grades 5-8. I also think this could be read aloud to students. Putting all of the primary source images in the book on the document camera would add to the engagement. Or you could read excerpts with a “book talk�� to interest independent readers.

CHALLENGES FOR some READERS (that you might need to be aware of and confer on)-
*Hopkinson jumps right into describing and chronicling the Titanic as though the reader knows a bit about the Titanic already. There's a short mention of "the largest and most luxurious ship the world had ever seen, a masterpiece of human engineering, class, and comfort" on the first page of Chapter One and then goes on as if you know what she's talking about - for me there wasn't an explicit enough introduction to this ship. That does not deter me from recommending. Just saying she's assuming you already know a bit about the Titanic!
*She refers to "decks" - D, E, F, etc. a lot throughout the book when discussing where events occurred (starting on page 36). While there's a two page illustration of the ship with a side view and labels for different areas on the ship like the Crew Quarters - there is no graphic that helps the reader visualize "decks." She has a glossary of terms - but not every term is there. She also uses "aft" and "astern" but these are not explained. Not a reason to avoid the book - but important to know if  you are recommending to students and want to be aware of possible obstacles.
*There are a lot of people involved in Hopkinson's narrative - students might struggle a bit to keep up with who, when, where, why - but I just kept reading and the people started to feel familiar and recognizable each time they popped up.