Review: Lifeboat 12

Lifeboat 12 by Susan Hood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lifeboat 12 is a novel-in-verse about children being sent by ship to Canada during World War II to escape the German Blitzkrieg in England. Their ship is hit by German torpedoes, and they must quickly escape by lifeboats. The story is told through the point-of-view of Ken Sparks, an actual survivor of this sunken ship. The first-person narration allows the reader to feel like he is in the lifeboat with the other survivors experiencing these tragic events as they unfold.

Susan Hood's writing is poetic and powerful. The format will make this book more accessible to reluctant readers. I've noticed that many of my students who only want to read books with pictures also enjoy novels-in-verse. As Kwame Alexander says, verse is less intimidating because there is so much blank space on the page. This book moves quickly, and it would make for an excellent addition to 5th grade classrooms as it will tie in with their curriculum.

As someone who grew up with a history-obsessed father (he spent nine hours in the WWII museum in NOLA), I was excited to read this story because I had never heard of the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) program. I just called my dad to quiz him on the topic, and he knew all about it (no surprise there). Having lived in France and visited many WWII museums and sites there, I know how horrific life in Europe was at that time. I cannot imagine how frightening it must have been for children to board a ship crossing the Atlantic. For parents to believe their children would be better off an ocean away from them really shows you how terrible and scary it must have been.

I will definitely recommend this book to students and teachers alike with the only caveat being that you won't learn much about the actual war, just about one tragic event caused by the war. It is certainly an event worth discovering.

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