S.O.S. Titanic

Irish teenager Barry O’Neill is journeying to New York on the Titanic’s fateful maiden voyage. He’s homesick and worried about the Flynn boys traveling in steerage, who have threatened to throw him overboard. Little does Barry know that a struggle with the Flynns is the least of the dangers that await him. This suspenseful story is based on the true and terrible events that occured as the Titanic sank one hundred years ago.

Fifteen-year-old Barry O'Neill, traveling from Ireland to America on the maiden voyage of the Titanic, finds his life endangered when the ship hits an iceberg and begins to sink.

Barry O’Neill is journeying to New York on the Titanic’s fateful maiden voyage. He’s homesick and worried about the Flynn boys traveling in steerage who have threatened to throw him overboard. Little does Barry know that a struggle with the Flynns is the least of the dangers that await him. This suspenseful young adult adventure story is based on the true and terrible events that occured as the Titanic sank. “A dread sense of the inevitable drives this taut disaster story-and makes it nearly impossible to put down.”—Publishers Weekly

The ALAN Review

Bunting combines historical accounts of the sinking of the Titanic with the story of a fifteen-year-old Irish boy leaving home and grandparents to join his parents in America. It is April, 1912, and Barry O'Neill has mixed feelings about his departure from Ireland, especially when he learns that local ruffians with a grudge against his family are sailing in the steerage. Bunting weaves together the stories of Barry's girlfriend in the steerage, first-class companions, and inexorably the story of the tragic sinking of the Titanic. Careful attention to historical detail adds interest to this fast-paced novel, but the emphasis is definitely on narrative as the suspense builds. Bunting tells the story well, but her ability to set the scene, both in the beginning and at the end, when she describes the death of the ship itself, carries this fine novel beyond mere narrative into an unforgettable scene of death and survival. Harcourt Brace & Company,

EVE BUNTING has written many books for children, including the Caldecott Medal-winning Smoky Night, illustrated by David Diaz, and Can You Do This, Old Badger? and Little Badger, Terror of the Seven Seas, both illustrated by LeUyen Pham. Ms. Bunting recently received the prestigious Kerlan Award. She lives in Southern California.