Escape from . . . the Titanic - by Mary Kay Carson

About the Book

Patrick is an Irish bellboy working on the Titanic to help his family back home. Sarah is a passenger excited to return to America. Neither of them knows that they are about to embark on the most dangerous trip of their lives. The unsinkable Titanic is not quite what Sarah expected. Instead of dining with movie stars, she finds herself having more fun in steerage with the family of her new friend, Patrick, a bellboy. He shows her all the secrets that the greatest ship in the world has to offer, like heated swimming pools and first-class cabins. But then . . . disaster! The ship crashes into an iceberg, and water begins rushing into the lower decks. The Titanic is going down fast-into the deep, icy Atlantic. Can Sarah find her new friends in time? Can Patrick do his duty and also save himself? Will either of them manage to escape one of the deadliest shipwrecks in history?--

Book Synopsis

"Many details within the informative, exciting narrative are based in history, and sidebars filling in the facts will bolster the story's believability for young readers...A good beginning for the Escape From . . . historical fiction series." Booklist

"With a prologue that spells out the issues on the Titanic, this book foreshadows disaster. Patrick Kelley, an Irish bellboy set to turn 14 on the ship, and Sarah Walsh, a young white passenger headed back to her family in Boston, are thrown together in an unlikely match, with little in common except their Irish backgrounds." School Library Journal

Patrick is an Irish bellboy working on the Titanic to help his family back home. Sarah is a passenger excited to return to America. Neither of them knows that they are about to embark on the most dangerous trip of their lives.

The unsinkable Titanic is not quite what Sarah expected. Instead of dining with movie stars, she finds herself having more fun in steerage with the family of her new friend, Patrick, a bellboy. He shows her all the secrets that the greatest ship in the world has to offer, like heated swimming pools and first-class cabins.
But then . . . disaster! The ship crashes into an iceberg, and water begins rushing into the lower decks. The Titanic is going down fast-into the deep, icy Atlantic. Can Sarah find her new friends in time? Can Patrick do his duty and also save himself? Will either of them manage to escape one of the deadliest shipwrecks in history?

Review Quotes

With a prologue that spells out the issues on the Titanic, this book foreshadows disaster. Patrick Kelley, an Irish bellboy set to turn 14 on the ship, and Sarah Walsh, a young white passenger headed back to her family in Boston, are thrown together in an unlikely match, with little in common except their Irish backgrounds. Both Sarah and Patrick share a birthday, and it is through this connection and a lot of sneaking around on the ship that their friendship solidifies. While they are having their go of enjoying the finest that White Star Line's Titanic can offer to lower-class cruisers, they discover that an iceberg has torn part of the ship and trouble is imminent. The plot is told in short chapters with nonfiction vignettes woven in.-- "School Library Journal"

Patrick, a 13-year-old Irish crew member who delivers messages throughout the Titanic,
befriends Sarah, a 10-year-old American girl who boards the ocean liner for its maiden voyage.
Over several days, he takes her around the ship, introducing her to crew members and his
cousins. Along the way, Sarah overcomes her former prejudice against the Irish. On the night of
Patrick's and Sarah's shared birthday, when disaster strikes and the ship sinks, they do what
they can to survive until rescued. Many details within the informative, exciting narrative are
based in history, and sidebars filling in the facts will bolster the story's believability for young
readers. One "Reality Check" box evaluates a cook's tale about a ship's cat, Jenny, taking her
kittens off the Titanic and a superstitious crew member trusting Jenny's instincts and leaving, too.
Wide-spaced lines of type and a sprinkling of full-page black-and-white illustrations give the book
an appealing look. A good beginning for the Escape From . . . historical fiction series, which will
include the simultaneously published Escape from . . . Pompeii and, later this year, Escape from
. . . Hurricane Katrina.-- "Booklist"

About the Author

Mary Kay Carson is the author of more than fifty books for young people about wildlife, space, weather, nature, and history. After studying biology in college, and a stint in the Peace Corps, she began her writing career working on the classroom magazine SuperScience. Her books have received more than a dozen starred reviews, as well as multiple awards, including the 2019 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books for Alexander Graham Bell for Kids. She's written six titles in HMH's acclaimed Scientists in the Field series, including The Bat Scientists, an ALA 2011 Notable Children's Books for Middle Readers, and The Tornado Scientist, a State Library of Ohio Choose To Read Ohio (CTRO) title for 2021-22. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband in a century-old house surrounded by urban greenspace, deer, hawks, woodchucks, and songbirds. www.marykaycarson.com