The Bravest Man in the World

May 15, 2019
A tribute to Wallace Hartley, the bandleader who played on as the RMS Titanic was sinking. When young Jonathan complains that piano practice is "sissy stuff," his grandfather responds with the tale of how, as a 9-year-old stowaway on the Titanic, he was taken in by the friendly Hartley--who was so impressed by the lad's talent that he arranged an onboard audition before John Jacob Astor that later led to a life in music. First, though, comes that night to remember (or as Polacco unoriginally puts it, a "date that would live in infamy"), with its rending collision, general panic...and tearful separation as the child reluctantly boards a lifeboat while Hartley remains on deck, playing "Nearer, My God, to Thee" for those doomed to stay behind. "Can you imagine the majesty and harrowing strength...the limitless bravery in that man's heart," the storyteller declaims. The musicians who, with like courage, joined Hartley on that fateful night are just dim figures in the background, but the illustrations bring the disaster's terror and tragedy into sharp focus on the expressive faces of the young stowaway and other passengers and crew (all white). Readers will come away appreciating Hartley's fortitude and may be equally moved by the closing note (with photos) that his violin, miraculously, was later recovered along with his body. A stirring example of "grace under fire" (writes the author, mangling another meme), commemorated in rhapsodic but not unsuitable language. (Picture book. 7-10)

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July 8, 2019
Polacco (Holes in the Sky) meshes fact and fiction in a lengthy, emotion-steeped story that opens seven decades after the sinking of the Titanic, as a fictitious survivor tells his grandson about the horrific event. Jonathan is a nine-year-old orphan living in “the slums of Ireland” when thugs grab and destroy his beloved fiddle after his mother’s death. Escaping to a warehouse, he hides in a mailbag that’s waiting to be loaded onto the doomed ocean liner. On board, the accidental stowaway is cared for in part by Wallace Hartley, a real-life violinist in the ship’s band, who gives Jonathan violin lessons and arranges to have him perform for arts patron John Jacob Astor. Polacco’s crisp pictures of elegantly clad passengers listening to the young violinist give way to pale, blurred images of the panicked scramble to lifeboats as the Titanic sinks and an anguished Jonathan bids farewell to Hartley, who remains on deck, stoically playing his violin. The tale ends on an equally chilling note, with a photo of Hartley’s mysteriously recovered violin, identified by an engraved silver stave attached to the instrument, a gift from his fiancée. Ages 4–8.