Sibert Award winner Sally M. Walker (Secrets of a Civil War Submarine; Written in Bone) brings to life the 1917 tragedy of two ships colliding in Halifax Harbour--the largest manmade explosion until Hiroshima--as she follows the members of five families through the event and its aftermath.
At 9:04 a.m. on December 6, 1917, 11-year-old Katharine Pattison was home sick with a cold; Gerald O'Brien, age seven, was skipping to the store to buy barley for his mother's soup; and 11-year-old Gerald Coleman, was preparing to serve as an altar boy at St. Joseph's Church. When the Mont-Blanc and the Imo collided in Halifax Harbour, their world literally exploded. The story begins with the physical layout of the harbor, its neighborhoods and the background of the two ships. Both were captained by capable men and served by competent crews. But one carried a hold full of explosives, and one false move resulted in catastrophe.
The well-designed volume clearly depicts the extent of the devastation in both words and photographs. The aftermath, involving daring rescues, identification of the dead, reconnecting family members separated by the blast, heroic relief efforts (which serve as a model for today's rescue missions) and months of reconstruction, will be as fascinating to readers as the disaster itself. The final chapter, "Time Passes," offers a moving and hopeful testimony to the ways the victims of tragedy choose to remember the past and how they move forward. As usual, this author's source notes and use of primary sources serves as a model of nonfiction writing. --Angela Carstensen, school librarian and blogger