Although the Titanic sank more than 100 years ago, there are still new books coming out about it on a regular basis and The Story of the Unsinkable Titanic, by Michael Wilkinson and Robert Hamilton is one of them. What makes this one stand out it is a day by day chronicle of the sinking and the aftermath told using newspaper articles. I found this rather compelling and tried to imagine what it was like when the story was new.

For children try Building the Titanic: the Making of a Doomed Ship, by Sean McCollum. This is a nice collection of facts about the ship, the workers, the passengers and so on. I like that words that might be new to the reader are defined as you go along rather than having to turn to a glossary in the back.

For teens there's Iceberg Right Ahead! The Tragedy of the Titanic, by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson. Another nice overview of everything from the building of the Titanic to the movie by James Cameron. Good descriptions on icebergs (there are many types), why the closest ship (the California) did not respond, Ballard's discovery of the wreck site, the last living survivor and lots more. Well done.

A lot of the well-known, rich (very rich) people of the era were on that fateful maiden voyage of the Titanic. Just who were they? What did they do? Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: the Titanic's First-Class Passengers and Their World, by Hugh Brewster explains all this. There is a follow up of afterwards, too. One woman had been on a ship that had collided with another ship (neither sank), the Titanic, and the Britannic when it sank during WWI (she survived them all). Charles Lightoller (Second Officer) had a small boat and was part of the civilian rescue of the troops at Dunkirk. One was a fashion designer who designed clothes that were the inspiration for the dress Audrey Hepurn wore as Eliza Doolittle in the scene at the race track in the movie version of My Fair Lady. There were sad endings, too, including several suicides and on-going health problems. All in all, just a fascinating read.

Reading Hermit With Dog