Avis Dolphin

In time for the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania, Wishinsky (A History of Just About Everything) brings readers aboard the ship through the fictionalized story of Avis Dolphin, a real-life 12-year-old who survived its torpedoing. From the start, ominous signs are everywhere—the ship’s cat appears to have deserted, the lifeboat drills are a joke, and Avis’s new acquaintance, Professor Ian Holbourn (also a real person), continually worries over the ship’s safety and its crew’s preparedness. Offsetting the professor’s concerns is a story he tells Avis about the Scottish island of Foula; his tale of a shipwrecked girl’s magical, dangerous adventures on the island unfolds in haunting, near-wordless b&w comics sequences from Dawson (The Big Green Book of the Big Blue Sea). Though Avis meets several children on board, they receive little attention; Avis is more focused on the professor’s companionship and the romantic travails of the young nurses accompanying her. While Wishinsky incorporates a wealth of contextual information into the story, readers already aware of the Lusitania’s fate may grow impatient with the slow, portentous buildup to the disaster. Ages 9–12. [em](Apr.) [/em]