Iceberg

Upon picking up this title, I wondered how the author was going to tell a story that most readers would have some preexisting knowledge of due to all the documentaries, movies, and books on the subject that are already available. Jennifer Nielsen not only tells the story of the Titanic disaster, but also manages to create characters that come to life on the page and include facts about the disaster of which I was not aware—despite being a person who has watched nearly every documentary and read many stories about the historical disaster. The main character Hazel is a poor 12-year-old traveling to America as a stowaway in order to get a job and help support her widowed mother and siblings. Although poor, Hazel is an intelligent girl who cannot stop thinking up questions to ask about the ship and other passengers. As she answers these questions, the story of how and why the Titanic sank is revealed in a suspenseful way while Hazel prowls the ship and meets other interesting characters. This book could easily be used to assist teachers in character studies as there are a variety of character types included. Nielsen's use of both real and fictional characters makes the story feel authentic and wildly suspenseful as she takes the reader on the final journey of the "unsinkable ship." While there are no graphic descriptions of death, sensitive or younger readers should be warned about how the story ends in generic terms to prepare them for the catastrophic ending.