YOU are aboard the Titanic, the world's largest ocean liner. The ship is sinking, and the ocean water is freezing. Will you survive? Do you get on the lifeboat or try to wait it out? Do you come to the rescue of the ship or continue in your path? Everything in this book happened to real people. And YOU CHOOSE what to do next. The choices you make will lead you to life or death.
YOU are aboard the Titanic, the world's largest ocean liner. The ship is sinking, and the ocean water is freezing. Will you survive? Do you get on the lifeboat or try to wait it out? Do you come to the rescue of the ship or continue in your path? Everything in this book happened to real people. And YOU CHOOSE what to do next. The choices you make will lead you to life or death.
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.
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"
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