The Sinking of The Titanic

The Sinking of the Titanic by: Matt Doeden 

       This graphic comic book begins by introducing the giant ocean liner Titanic and her journey across the ocean. The novel introduces the captain of the ship and the widespread opinion that the Titanic was a powerful unsinkable ship. Then, the Titanic hit an iceberg and the ship went into a frenzy.  The Titanic sent out a distress call. Even though there was a ship 10 miles away, they did not hear the radio call and ignored the flares thinking it was just fireworks. Meanwhile, the passengers of the Titanic were filing into lifeboats. There was only enough room for 1,200 people, but the Titanic had 2,200 people. The ship who came to the Titanic's rescue arrived 2 hours after if had already sank. More than 1,500 people died in the waters of the North Atlantic. 
        This book is wonderful for upper elementary students. Because its a comic book, there is a lot of activity on each page. Upper elementary as opposed to lower grades will be more likely to follow the story line without getting confused. This book is about a real story. After reading this book, the class could research newspaper articles at the time of the wreck or make their own fliers or mock tickets for the Titanic as a writing activity. The book will inspire more questions about this event that could lead to research based projects for the students. The students can talk about the tragedy and speculate about things that could've been done to prevent the disaster.