Shipwrecks (Treasure Hunters)

Treasure Hunters

by Nick Hunter

Shipwrecks examines the hunt for shipwrecks and the valuable treasures they hold, whether that be gold and jewels, or important artifacts that offer us a window on to the past. Part of the Treasure Hunters series, "Shipwrecks" offers a crosscurricular mix of science & technology and history, with a fun, dramatic approach. "Shipwrecks" covered in the book include the Tudor Warship the Mary Rose, the Spanish Galleon La Nuestra Senora de Atocha, American Civil War ship SS Republic, and the Titanic: the most famous shipwreck of all. The book also looks at the motives for these searches, and the importance of responsible archaeology: were the treasure hunters driven by personal greed or glory, or did they embark on their quest with a historical interest and a desire to preserve the lost treasures?

Genres: Nonfiction

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Madelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you need a quick overview of a subject, a middle grade book is the way to go. Wish it would have covered more shipwrecks, though.

[Loren]

Text Features:

Table of contents
Glossary
Headings
Diagram of galleon
Pictures & Captions
Fast facts
Bolded text
Timeline
Quotes from survivors
diagram of sonar
diagram of finding the Titanic
topics for further research
places to visit
online and text resources


Text Structure:
Sequence: The author uses facts and details to describe the sequence of the shipwreck. Description- this text also paints a picture of a few shipwrecks from the past. The writer describes the fragileness of the ships as well as how to be an archaeologist.


Paired Fiction:
The Sinking of the Titanic, 1912
Tarshis, L., & Dawson, S. (2010). I survived the sinking of the Titanic, 1912. New York: Scholastic.

This is a historical fiction story about a boy named George who is on the “unsinkable ship” with his aunt and sister. This text enhances the nonfiction text because it shows the “present” perspective of the past. With the Shipwrecks text, students are told facts and details like an outsider looking in. The I Survived text extends the learning by engaging the reader’s with the lives of the people on board.

Strategy Application:

For this book I will use the “Cracking Open the Headings” strategy (Seravallo, 2015, p. 291). In this strategy, the students will take notice of how headings can sometime be confusing because the author wants to be creative, so in order to understand the heading the student will use information in the text to explain the heading. In this strategy the students have a chart with three sections: clever heading, section is about, my new heading. When the reader notices a heading he/she writes it in the heading section, reads the text and writes a small description of what it was about to explain the heading, and finally create a new heading that is simpler. This strategy works well with the Shipwrecks text because some of the headings can be unclear. This gets the students thinking critically about the text. The students will refer back to this chart when we read the fiction text to support comprehension.

Serravallo, J. (2015). The reading strategies book: Your everything guide to developing skilled readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.