Finding the Titanic

Ballard, R. (1993). Reading wings: Targeted treasure hunt. Scholastic.

This is a great non-fiction book written at about the fourth grade level, but could definitely be used for strong 2nd and 3rd grade readers and also fifth grade students. It is a great read for anyone who has a love of learning and is curious about the Titanic. I have been fascinated with this regal ship since I myself was in third grade and our reading series had a piece about the Titanic. I clearly remember being intrigued by the diagrams in the book referencing where certain areas were on the ship. This book, written by Robert Ballard (the discoverer of the shipwreck no less) does not fail to excite as much as my third grade reader did!

       Finding the Titanic is written in such a way that some chapters are present day and explain the search and diving effort to locate the shipwreck and some chapters are written from the perspective of Ruth Becker, an actual survivor from that fateful night. There are so many great text features to help readers better understand the wealth of information they are gaining from reading this. There are charts, diagrams, cut-aways, illustrations, photographs, close-ups and more. It was hard for me to decide if this was informational nonfiction or a biography as Robert Ballard is telling the story of achieving his lifelong dream and all of the hard work and effort he put into such a feat. But the book also gives a great deal of information and facts about the Titanic, its passengers, crew, cargo, layout and of course its plunge into the icy Atlantic. It also gives information about the discovery of the shipwreck years later, going into great detail about the submarines, cameras and robotic devices used to explore the shipwreck.

     I would definitely use this book to teach students to use and analyze text features to better understand the text.
 
       Questions to ponder:

• Why do you think Robert Ballard included the information about Ruth Becker?
• Did it help your understand of the story? How?
• Why do you think Mr. Ballard thinks people should leave the shipwreck in peace instead of bringing artifacts to the surface?
• What is your point-of-view? Should artifacts be left or shared with the world. Justify your answer.