Capsized!

Starred review from May 15, 2018
On the morning of July 24, 1915, the 2,500 passengers aboard the excursion ship SS Eastland were looking forward to a pleasant outing at a Lake Michigan destination but instead found disaster.In a tautly written, vividly detailed, suspenseful narrative, Sutton chronicles the event that stands today as the greatest loss of life on the Great Lakes. From the time of the Eastland's launch in 1903, design flaws making her susceptible to listing were known though kept quiet by the company that owned it. The ship was top-heavy, which became evident when passengers congregated on the upper decks. Several incidents in the intervening years indicated the Eastland was destined for catastrophe. It occurred when the ship was chartered to take employees and their families from Western Electric Company's Hawthorne Works to a picnic in Michigan City, Indiana. This was a major event for the workers, most of whom were first- and second-generation Polish and Czech immigrants and could not take holidays. The Eastland capsized in the Chicago River while still moored to the pier. Seventy percent of the 844 passengers and crew who perished were under the age of 25. Sutton raises several provocative questions: Why is so much known about the Titanic's sinking and yet so little about the Eastland disaster? Why was no one ever held responsible for this catastrophe? Her fast-paced account makes ample use of primary sources, plaiting them into her narrative naturally as dialogue.A true disaster story rivetingly told. (maps, photo, diagrams, source notes, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

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June 1, 2018

Gr 5-8-When the SS Eastland capsized in the Chicago River on July 24, 1915, 844 people lost their lives. A higher number of passengers died than those killed in the sinking of the Titanic and this tragedy still the largest loss of life on the Great Lakes. Sutton takes readers through a detailed time line that follows several of the people who were onboard that day. The book has a large cast of characters; fortunately, there is a list at the beginning to assist readers. Not all of those profiled survived, but the text handles the deaths with a matter-of-fact grace. The information is presented in a factual manner, diffusing some of the feelings of horror that might be associated with the tragedy. Filled with photographs, documents, and diagrams, this title is a very thorough account of the disaster, and all of the dialogue is from reliable sources. VERDICT Libraries that serve students fascinated with the Titanic or Ruta Sepetys's Salt to the Sea will want to add this book to their collections.-V. Lynn Christiansen, Wiley International Studies Magnet Elementary School, Raleigh, NC

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2018
Grades 5-8 A lesser-known shipwreck comes vividly to life in this slim volume about the SS Eastland. The passenger liner was already a little top-heavy when it was built, but throw in some extra lifeboats on the top deck, finicky ballast pumps, and a huge crowd of picnic-goers headed to the beach across the lake from Chicago, and the Eastland became downright dangerous. Sutton homes in on several families and individuals who were on the boat when it tipped over in the Chicago River in 1915, killing 844 people, and offers a tense, minute-by-minute report of both the circumstances leading up to the disaster and the harrowing rescue aftermath. The narrative-driven account, filled with quotes from individuals and newspapers, historical photos, and trial transcripts, is engaging and accessible, and an author's note considers why the Eastland disaster isn't better known. Questions of accountability encourage critical thinking: Was the captain responsible? The engineer? The shipbuilder? Extensive source notes, which account for every quote, as well as a bibliography, round out this informative, engrossing title.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)