Lifeboat 12
by Susan Hood (Author)
"This page-turning true-life adventure is filled with rich and riveting details and a timeless understanding of the things that matter most."--Dashka Slater, author of The 57 Bus
"Brilliantly told in verse, readers will love Ken Sparks." --Patricia Reilly Giff, two-time Newbery Honor winner
"Lyrical, terrifying, and even at times funny. A richly detailed account of a little-known event in World War II." --Kirkus Reviews
"Middle grade Titanic fans, here's your next read." --BCCB
"An edge-of-your seat survival tale." --School Library Journal (starred review)
A Junior Library Guild SelectionA 2019 Golden Kite Middle Grade Fiction Award Winner In the tradition of The War That Saved My Life and Stella By Starlight, this poignant novel in verse based on true events tells the story of a boy's harrowing experience on a lifeboat after surviving a torpedo attack during World War II. With Nazis bombing London every night, it's time for thirteen-year-old Ken to escape. He suspects his stepmother is glad to see him go, but his dad says he's one of the lucky ones--one of ninety boys and girls to ship out aboard the SS City of Benares to safety in Canada. Life aboard the luxury ship is grand--nine-course meals, new friends, and a life far from the bombs, rations, and his stepmum's glare. And after five days at sea, the ship's officers announce that they're out of danger. They're wrong. Late that night, an explosion hurls Ken from his bunk. They've been hit. Torpedoed! The Benares is sinking fast. Terrified, Ken scrambles aboard Lifeboat 12 with five other boys. Will they get away? Will they survive? Award-winning author Susan Hood brings this little-known World War II story to life in a riveting novel of courage, hope, and compassion. Based on true events and real people, Lifeboat 12 is about believing in one another, knowing that only by banding together will we have any chance to survive.
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School Library Journal
Gr 4-7--It's 1940, the beginning of the Blitz, and 13-year-old Kenneth Sparks is selected to go to Canada as part of a program to send British children to the safety of the U.K.'s overseas dominions. When his ship is torpedoed, Kenneth, five other boys from the program, and about 40 adults make it aboard Lifeboat 12, one of the only lifeboats remaining after the evening's gale-force winds. Together, they must survive the North Atlantic in a boat with limited supplies. Evocative verse perfectly captures the horror of their situation, the agonizing disappointment of near-rescues, and the tedium of daily life aboard a cramped lifeboat. For example, immediately following the shipwreck, Kenneth spies the red rocking horse that had been in the children's playroom floating in the wreckage: "It rears up from the sea, /the red horse of war, /its mouth open, /silently screaming/at all it sees, /rocking up and down/in the waves, /past the bodies of those/I now know/are already/dead." Adding to the appeal of this work is an exceptionally well-curated and organized array of back matter that includes an author's note, a nonfiction account of the real-life Lifeboat 12, photos, an essay on the author's sources and research technique, and documented source notes for a significant amount of the book's dialogue. VERDICT This stirring novel-in-verse based on a true story is an edge-of-your-seat survival tale, an extensively researched work of historical fiction, and an exemplar of the form.--Eileen Makoff, P.S. 90 Edna Cohen School, NY
Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
JUV001010 - Juvenile Fiction | Action & Adventure | Survival Stories
JUV041020 - Juvenile Fiction | Transportation | Boats, Ships, & Underwater Craft
Survival
Novels in verse
Historical fiction
Evacuation of civilians
Children
Ocean travel
Ocean liners
Great Britain]vJuvenile fiction
Lifeboats
Great Britain]vFiction
