About the Author

Bob Temple lives in Rosemount, Minnesota, with his wife and three children. He has written more than thirty books for children. Over the years, he has coached more than twenty kids' soccer, basketball, and baseball teams. He also loves visiting classrooms to talk about his writing.

Reviews

In an instant, a huge crash sends you flying. In the distance, you hear the sound of watertight doors slamming shut. One of the nearby watertight doors is still open. Water has begun rushing into your compartment. There's no time to waste. You have only a split second to decide what to do. . . . You dive for the door. Two or three others make it through before the heavy metal door slams shut. You can hear your fellow stokers pounding on the other side. But it's too late to help them. Soon you see an officer. He tells you what has happened--Titanic has struck ice. In its You Choose Books, Capstone Press has put the "Choose Your Own. . ." format, wildly popular in fantasy and mystery potboilers almost two decades ago, to good use, illuminating some of the major events of history in a reader-friendly interactive design. In Bob Temple's The Titanic: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose Books), for example, a brief story line aboard the doomed ship is introduced with the reader playing typical characters. At a crucial juncture in the story, the "character" is given two credible choices--in the above vignette, the boiler room stoker may choose to stay and help the injured workers ("Turn to page 96") OR to dive through the doors before they close and seal him hopelessly inside the bowels of the sinking ship ("Turn to page 80"). This title features three distinct strands: the reader may initially choose to hang out with the very rich, dining with John Jacob Astor, to travel with the immigrants on the lowest passenger deck in third class, or to experience the disaster as a member of the crew of the Titanic. Within these three "paths," you can stand beside Astor as he bravely refuses to board a lifeboat with his wife and children, vowing to "see you in New York" as he stays to go down with other gallant men who honored the "women and children first" rule. The reader can choose to be English-speaking immigrant passengers who beg a young officer to unlock the wire gates and allow them to try to board the last lifeboats on deck, or choose to be a non-English-speaking working girl who finds herself up late, singing and dancing with a young man named Tony, who, seeing the last lifeboat being lowered, grabs her hand and jumps with her into the lifeboat and thus into a long life as a Titanic survivor. Conversely, the reader can put himself or herself into the shoes of a crewman who survives when an officer orders him into a lifeboat to row its load of mothers and children clear of the rapidly tilting ship. There's no fancy writing here, but the events themselves are so gripping and the choices so real that readers will be instantly drawn into the action. This format has special appeal for reluctant readers: the style is brisk, with a minimum of character development, and each of the individual episodes within the 35 choices and 15 endings takes only a few pages to reach its conclusion. It's hard to resist the temptation to go back and follow the alternative choices to see how the outcomes change, and the reader cannot help but grasp the role that individual choice and random luck played in the life or death of the Titanic's passengers. Middle readers who are accustomed to following live links in computer programs will relish the similar print options offered by this clever format. Other major historic events in this series include The Attack on Pearl Harbor: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose Books), The Alamo: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose Books), The Underground Railroad: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose Books), The Battle of Bull Run: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose Books), and The Golden Age of Pirates: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose Books), as well as many other significant events in American history. Each one comes complete with supportive back matter--a time line, suggestions for further study, bibliographies, internet sites (limited to age-- "BooksforKidsBlog"

These adventures abound with historical facts as readers decide which way the story will progress. In Pirates, options include joining the dreaded Blackbeard or being marooned on a desert island. In Titanic, however, no matter which route is chosen, the ship still sinks, though in some cases "you" are saved, whereas in others, you die. The language used throughout each book will be clear to readers as young as third grade, but even sixth graders will be taken in by the interactive format. Pirates is peppered with myriad color drawings; Titanic displays mostly period photographs. In both texts, a final chapter, outside the interactive section, offers further historical details.-- "School Library Journal"

Photographs and drawings accompany the text, and the work as a whole is certainly effective in creating a first person appreciation for the events of the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. . . .This would be a great resource not only to accompany the study of this historical event but as an introduction to the use of primary sources in research based writing.-- "Children's Literature Comprehensive Database"

Teens can choose their destiny on the Titanic as part of the first class, third class, or working class. There's also a general introduction and conclusion about the ship and its passengers. Teens felt this book gave good information and was easy to read.-- "VOYA"

The story is certainly not new to children's literature, but the format of the "You Choose Books" series is more unusual. The cover advertises "3 Story Paths, 35 Choices, 15 Endings." The initial choice is to travel in first class with the rich, in third class with the poor, or as a crewmember. After that, readers move through the book based on their decisions in given situations--stay awake to socialize or retire early, try to help others or hurry to escape. They may end up as a rich male passenger who perishes, a poor female passenger who lives, or ...? Although there is a table of contents, readers navigate the book by jumping to different portions of the story as indicated at the bottom of the book's pages. The various storylines, based on primary sources such as survivor accounts and hearing transcripts, seem to hold together. Photographs and drawings accompany the text, and the work as a whole is certainly effective in creating a first-person appreciation for the events of the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. Additional materials following the text include prompts for writing, a bibliography, a reading list, a glossary, a timeline, and an index. This would be a great resource not only to accompany the study of this historical event but as an introduction to the use of primary sources in research-based writing.-- "Children's Literature Comprehensive Database"

Using a Choose Your Own Adventure format, this book takes readers inside the doomed ship from three perspectives: a first- and third-class passenger and a crew member. Though the information is limited, the text packs in many historical details, supported by archival reproductions. The active-learning approach will engage students while demonstrating how individuals' choices or social status made the difference between life and death. Rating: 4: Recommended, with minor flaws-- "Horn Book"