Tonight on the Titanic

(The Mystery of the Enchanted Dog 1)

(Magic Tree House 17)
by
Mary Pope Osborne

illustrated by

Sal Murdocca

Scholastic, September 1999, 71 pp.
ISBN: 0-439-08672-8

Genre: Early Chapter
Subgenres: Time Travel / R.M.S. Titanic
Reviewed: 10/19/2005

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Excerpt

"The ship's sinking," said Annie. "Look."

She pointed to the water at the end of the hall.

"Oh, no!" cried Lucy.

:"Don't be afraid," said Jack. "Just get your coats and your life belts. We don't have much time."

Lucy nodded. Then she went back inside the room and came out with their things.

Lucy pulled on her coat and her life belt. Annie helped William put his on.

"Let's go," said Jack.

"Wait--can Teddy fit in your knapsack?" said Annie.

"Try," said Jack.

Annie slipped the little dog into the leather knapsack on Jack's back. Only Teddy's front paws and head stuck out.

"Stay there, honey," said Annie. She kissed Teddy on the nose.

Jack didn't feel any extra weight in his knapsack. The little dog felt as light as air.

"Wait--I forgot something," said Lucy.

"We don't have time--" started Jack.

But Lucy rushed back into the room.

"Hurry!" shouted Annie.

When Lucy came out, Jack saw her slip something into her coat pocket. Then she grabbed William's hand.

"Ready?" said Jack.

Suddenly, he felt freezing water brush against his shoes.

He looked down. The green sea water was slowly moving down the hall.

"Arf! Arf!" barked Teddy from Jack's pack.

"Run!" cried Annie.

Synopsis

On a rainy night, Jack and Annie head toward the treehouse and find a sad little terrier dog waiting for them. Morgan had left a note saying the the dog was under a spell and that the children needed to visit four different places and retrieve four items that will help break the spell that is on the dog.

When the appear on the Unsinkable Ship, they think everything is great until they find out that they are on the R.M.S. Titanic. Finding out that the date is April 14, 1912, they realize that this in the night that the ship will run into an iceberg and sink. Just then, the ship stutters as it scrapes along the side of an iceberg. Being the only two people on the ship that know that it is going to sink, Jack and Annie travel down to the Third Class level and rescue a boy and his sister.

When the girls gives Annie her father's watch, the ship begins to tilt downward. Knowing that they don't have much time before the ship sinks into the freezing waters, they head back to the treehouse only to find it gone.

Tonight on the Titanic is the seventeenth book in the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. This is the first of four books in "The Mystery of the Enchanted Dog" collection. The book is illustrated by Sal Murdocca. This story is intended for early chapter book readers in 2nd to 4th grade. The writing is perfect for young readers as there are not a lot of difficult words, but new ones are introduced and then reinforced with repetition.

Review

It is nice that Jack and Annie don't have to be Master Librarians in this series of four books. This time they are not looking for a scroll or old book, but for items that will help break a spell that has been cast on a dog.

Having seen the movie "Titanic", my daughter did not want to read the book. But time had passed since she had seen the movie and decided that she would give it a try, and ended up liking the book and was not scared at all.

Mary Pope Osborne does a good job of describing the ship that all of us know so well. The story is fun, but does have an underlying sense of tragedy. Yes, 1500 people died when the Titanic sank while only 705 survived, but children should learn about important past events. This is a good way to introduce this horrible occurrence to young readers.

Overall, Tonight on the Titanic is a great read and I suggest it to all early readers.

I rated this book an 8½ out of 10.