Your Life as a Cabin Attendant on the Titanic

April 1, 2012

Gr 3-6-A variety of artistic styles and stories of fictional people give readers a sense of life during historical situations. At the beginning of each volume, a character invites readers to take on the role of a pioneer, cabin attendant, etc. Information is conveyed via narration, other historical characters, text boxes, interjections by modern characters, and diagrams. Some of the art was created with acrylics while the rest was drawn digitally, but all of the illustrations are colorful and eye-catching. The text doesn't romanticize the past. Each volume conveys the hard work, lack of hygiene, and limited or poor food supply. Slaves are depicted in Settler. In both Cabin Boy and Explorer, attacks take place, but the victims quickly surrender and no bloodshed is shown. This series provides a quick and fun way for readers to learn about life in the past.

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2012
Grades 3-6 Similar to the You Wouldn't Want to . . . series from Scholastic, The Way It Was covers a number of lowly ways to make a living throughout history, but this title takes the cake. Youthe book makes the reader into the fictional protagonistare a 20-year-old attendant aboard the Titanic, one of only 18 female stewards. (An info box informs us that women ship workers were considered bad luck.) It's a fresh angle: you share your cramped cabin with three other stewards and rush to and fro responding to each passenger's whim. Though the conceit that this is a movie role feels unnecessaryperhaps it was intended to make the story less frighteningthe book has decent educational value, aside from a cutaway diagram of the ship that doesn't benefit from the rough acrylic art. Enjoyable and exciting, though? Indeed, and lucky youyou survive, thanks to the women and children first rule.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)