Reviews

I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912: The Graphic Novel by Georgia Ball, Lauren Tarshis

jennifermilanovic's review

5.0

I usually am not a fan of graphic novels but I did really enjoy this one. It follows the story of a brother and sister who have lost their mom but their rich aunt pays for their tickets for the Titanic's maiden voyage. After enjoying a few days on the big ship with their aunt, disaster strikes in the night.
I though the book was a good introduction to the truth of what happened to the Titanic as well as raising awareness for safety precautions. If you like the I Survived novels you should give this a try and vice versa. Fans of historical fiction will enjoy the details in this book.

eggfartz's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

peyton_'s review

3.0

Another good book in this series. I think this story is well written and the characters have a good foundation and story. As always, I love that there are facts in the back to go along with the story. I also appreciate that death is mentioned is this book. 

sandylovesbooks's review against another edition

5.0

Another great novelization of a huge event that is still in our minds even after so long. The author has done a great job bringing us to that time and place. I loved the illustrations by Haus Studio. At this time there are only 6 graphic novels and I want to read them all.

zeezeemama11's review

3.0

My son has begun his solo reading adventure. His favorite thing in the world is the Titanic and its story. It is one of the few books he will still let me read aloud to him and I have read this so many times out loud to him. I had to enter it into Goodreads. I recommend that I survived series to anyone with children. It is a good historical fiction whether in book or graphic novel form for children to submerge themselves into important events that have happened long ago. It has made up characters that are easy to relate to but goes over actual events. Do I have to say that is a good conversation starter. With each reading we have different topics that we talk about.

shipwrecksteph's review

3.0

I received an ARC at NYCC 2019. Many thanks to Graphix and Scholastic for the copy. The version I reviewed was incomplete. The second half wasn’t colored yet and some graphics were temporary.

I’ll start by going on record that I love the idea of using graphic novels to teach. And historical non-fiction is one of the best subjects to tackle. This one does a good job handling such a dire theme for a younger age group. Adults will see where things are glossed over. But the story should connect with a younger audience pretty well.

There is a lot of really good layout in this book. One spread in particular really gave a good sense of scale to the disaster. But the artwork is all over the place. The color may have been half finished in my copy, but in standard comic production, the linework is done by this point. Which means the inconsistent faces have nothing to do with its work-in-progress status. And it is really all over the place. There are characters I didn’t recognize from page to page because their faces, hair and clothes change completely. A more experienced reader can connect the dots by knowing that 4 different white ladies with red hair have not been introduced at random moments. Rather the aunt has simply changed clothes for a new scene. But it’s easy to see this would cause problems for any number of readers.

There’s also some really clunky, on the nose dialog. I understand the need to be clear in writing for middle grade. But even 10 year old me would have thrown the book across the room if one more person said “Nothing can sink the Titanic!”. I didn’t appreciate this sort of talking down when I was young and I’m disappointed to see it survives in new books today.

My grade for this was hovering at a 2.5 and I wasn’t sure where to rate it. The discussion questions at the end convinced me to round up. They were really pointed and brought up tough subjects. The tragedy of this event really hits when you read that a character that survived in the book died in real life. Other questions do a very good job of covering things like hubris, ego and unfettered capitalism (even if they don't use those exact words).

This is far from my favorite example of graphic non-fiction I’ve read recently. And frankly the subject of the Titanic seems over covered. But if it must be covered, then this isn’t a bad way to start to conversation.

heathermarie08's review against another edition

adventurous challenging fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

jessiebwriting's review

4.0

I am enjoying these historical fiction graphic novels. They certainly give a new perspective of historical events. I've never thought of the children's view of the sinking of the Titanic - how terrifying it would've been for them, more so than the adults I think. Tarshi has done another wonderful job at telling the story of a major event in a way that kids can connect with it and come to understand it.

the_ghost_penguin_reader's review

adventurous emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

ashleyreadstoomuch's review

adventurous informative tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0