SOS! Titanic! (Canadian Flyer Adventures; 14). Frieda Wishinsky. Illustrated by Jean-Paul Eid. Toronto, ON: Maple Tree Press, 2010. 83 pp., pbk. & hc., $7.95 (pbk.), $17.95 (hc.). ISBN 978-1897349-78-6 (pbk.), ISBN 978-1897349-77-9 (hc.). Subject Heading: Titanic (Steamship)-Juvenile fiction. Grades 2-4 / Ages 7-9. Review by Tanya Boudreau. **** /4

excerpt:

Emily sank into a deck chair. “I give up!” she said, throwing her hands up. “No one believes us. This ship is going under and we can’t do anything to stop it.

“We can stop it! We have to stop it! I believe you!” called a girl. Emily and Matt looked up. It was Sally! She was racing down the deck in her nightgown.

“When I told my aunt about your little talking machine, she said I must have imagined it playing my voice back,” said Sally. “She said no child could figure out how to do a trick like that, and that machine could never work. And then I knew. You are from the future. The Titanic is going to sink. When my aunt went to sleep, I tiptoed out of the cabin. I thought I’d never find you in time, but I have!

“It’s too late. No one believes us. The captain won’t slow the ship down,” said Matt.

“There’s one more person to try. Let’s talk to the wireless operator. Let’s tell him to send a message and get help,” said Sally. “I know where the wireless office is. Follow me.”

Matt and Emily have learned about the Titanic through books and movies, but in this fourteenth book in the “Canadian Flyer Adventures” series, they will have the opportunity to be onboard. They will walk down the Grand Staircase, attend a ten course meal, meet the passengers, and when the iceberg hits, save lives.

    A first-class menu and a magic sled take best friends Matt and Emily back to 1912, hours before the Titanic hits an iceberg. They know they can’t change history on these time traveling trips, but in this case, they try. As Matt and Emily go from the third class deck to the first class deck, they warn men, women and children to get to the lifeboats as soon as the Titanic is hit. It won’t be until they are home in Glenwood, ON, though, that Matt and Emily find out what happened to their new friends.

     Young readers experience Canada’s history when they read the “Canadian Flyer Adventures” series. Voices, memories, and images from the past come through on every page as Matt and Emily fly across the country, reliving our country’s history. On every trip, they wear the clothes and speak the language of those around them. While on most trips, they remain secretive about their true identities, in SOS! Titanic!, the stakes are too high for them to keep quiet.

     SOS! Titanic! is a well-researched, quick read. Interesting facts (such as the gymnasium had a mechanical horse and camel) are incorporated into the story while more in-depth facts (such as five people on the Titanic were born in Canada, 35 lived in Canada, and 81 were on their way there) are listed in the back of the book under Matt and Emily’s Top Ten Facts and the author’s question and answer section. The storyline, which is illustrated in black and white, will appeal to boys and girls who like to be immersed in adventure.

Highly Recommended.

Tanya Boudreau is a librarian at the Cold Lake Public Library in Cold Lake, AB.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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