The Bravest Man in the World

Polacco (Holes in the Sky) meshes fact and fiction in a lengthy, emotion-steeped story that opens seven decades after the sinking of the Titanic, as a fictitious survivor tells his grandson about the horrific event. Jonathan is a nine-year-old orphan living in “the slums of Ireland” when thugs grab and destroy his beloved fiddle after his mother’s death. Escaping to a warehouse, he hides in a mailbag that’s waiting to be loaded onto the doomed ocean liner. On board, the accidental stowaway is cared for in part by Wallace Hartley, a real-life violinist in the ship’s band, who gives Jonathan violin lessons and arranges to have him perform for arts patron John Jacob Astor. Polacco’s crisp pictures of elegantly clad passengers listening to the young violinist give way to pale, blurred images of the panicked scramble to lifeboats as the Titanic sinks and an anguished Jonathan bids farewell to Hartley, who remains on deck, stoically playing his violin. The tale ends on an equally chilling note, with a photo of Hartley’s mysteriously recovered violin, identified by an engraved silver stave attached to the instrument, a gift from his fiancée. Ages 4–8. [em](Sept.) [/em]