Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson

Hopkinson, D. (2012). Titanic: voices from the disaster. New York: Scholastic.
This book relives the events, timeline, and the lives that were saved and lost during the fateful voyage of the Titanic. It follows various passengers that were aboard the ship. Some of those passengers perished, while some survived. The beginning explains the structural components and blueprint of the great titanic, while also introducing who some of the passengers where. The book continues to tell the reader the stories of passengers and what they had to live through and how they felt through each passing moment of the sinking Titanic. The end of the book describes the horror and disappointment families felt when they realized their loved ones were not on the Carpathia, the ship that brought survivors to New York, but rather passed on the doomed ship. This historical nonfiction text brings back the memories passengers experienced during the fateful voyage. A range of emotions floods the reader with happiness as the passengers express how they felt while boarding Titanic, to the despair they experienced while the ship was sinking. By the author using actual quotes, timelines, charts, diagrams, and real photographs of the ship and its passengers, the reader is drawn into the storyline and feels as if he or she is on the ship too. Not only does the author, Deborah Hopkinson, provide the story of what happened to the Titanic and the passengers, but it also provides letters and actual quotes from passengers. Titanic: Voices from the Disaster is a 2013 Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist. I would recommend this book to Middle school US History teachers, for students to read to understand not only what happened to the Titanic but how different the way of life was only 100 years ago.