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

★★★★★

I really enjoyed this one! Characters are fleshed out, and I teared up. I especially liked the way a couple different pieces came together in the end.

Even though the whole series is about disasters, when I first started this book, I was afraid that the description of the actual sinking would be too much, too awful for young readers to imagine. But Lauren Tarshis has really found a method that works: The first chapter describes the most terrifying part of the disaster that is experienced by the main character. Just when you think it might be too difficult for young readers to handle, the chapter ends. The second chapters goes back in time and sets up the characters and the context. Towards the end of the book, after the worst of the disaster has passed, Lauren Tarshis pulls back from the story, like a fade to black in movies. The next chapter opens in a calming way, after much of the immediate aftermath has already passed. Some details are retroactively explained, and we see our main character in a good place. As far as I can tell from the books I've read so far, the author always gives us a happy ending. I like that. With so much death and destruction embedded in each story, it's nice to imagine that maybe, just maybe, some people came through alright.