A history of the Titanic and a recounting of one of the worst maritime disasters in history.
May 1, 2004
Reviewed with Andrew Santella's " Navajo Code Talkers" .
Gr. 3-6. Although many of the titles in the extensive We the People series deal with our country's revolutionary beginnings, these two cover more recent U.S. history. " Titanic " capitalizes on the famous tragedy's morbid allure, covering everything from the "unsinkable" behemoth's construction to the discovery of its remains on the ocean floor in 1985. While sure to attract many readers, " Titanic " stands to fill a much less conspicuous gap in collections than " Navajo Code Talkers" ; " " few children will have heard about the Marines' secret recruitment of Navajos during World War II to develop and implement a code based on their native language. Cryptographically inclined kids will particularly appreciate the chart listing code words for the letters of the alphabet and cleverly improvised military terms, such as " chicken hawk " for dive bomber and " eggs" for bombs. Both treatments are smoothly written, concise enough for reluctant readers, and abundantly illustrated with well-chosen archival photos. Though the glossaries are unaccountably brief, other concluding resources should prove more useful, especially the prescreened Web sites accessible online--including one featuring recordings of Navajo code words. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)