SOS Titanic
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
This tale of an Irish teenager aboard the doomed ship, from a Caldecott Medal winner, is a "taut disaster story . . . nearly impossible to put down" (Publishers Weekly).
Fifteen-year-old Barry O'Neill is journeying to New York to reunite with his parents on the maiden voyage of the great ship Titanic. He's homesick, and worried about the Flynn boys traveling in steerage, who have threatened to throw him overboard. Little does Barry know that a struggle with the Flynns is the least of the dangers that await him.
This "fast-paced" and suspenseful young adult adventure story is based on the true and terrible events that occurred as the Titanic sank, and "immerses readers in the many human tragedies" (Booklist).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A dread sense of the inevitable drives this taut disaster story-and makes it nearly impossible to put down. Only moments after 15-year-old Barry O'Neill boards the Titanic in Queenstown, Ireland, the final port of call before the Atlantic crossing, he learns that the ship narrowly missed a collision at Southampton-a "bad omen," says a fellow passenger. Watley, Barry's steward in first class, claims intuitive knowledge that the voyage is ill-fated, while another uneasy passenger notes the shortage of lifeboats and refers to a novel written years earlier about an eerily similar ship called the Titan that sinks after colliding with an iceberg. Barry, understandably, is on edge-and so is the reader. When disaster finally strikes, Bunting (Spying on Miss Muller) unfolds the terrifying events in gripping climactic chapters. Barry acts nobly, risking his own life to save Pegeen, a girl from steerage class with whom he has fallen in love, and her brother, a ruffian with a longstanding grudge against Barry and his wealthy family. It's well-wrought historical fiction, but lest anyone forget, a brief afterword reminds readers of the horrifying and very real toll of the tragedy. Ages 12-up.
