I Survived Collection: Books #1-4

by Lauren Tarshis

When disaster strikes, heroes are made.

New York Times bestselling author Lauren Tarshis brings history's most exciting and terrifying events to life in the thrilling I SURVIVED series

In this collection, witness unforgettable kids who, against all odds, survived sinking ships, shark attacks, the most destructive hurricane to hit North America, and the bombing that launched the United States into World War II.

Genres: Childrens, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Middle Grade

432 pages, Paperback

First published October 29, 2013

About the author

Lauren Tarshis often wonders how she came to spend most of her waking moments thinking about disasters, as the author of the children's historical fiction series "I Survived." Each book takes readers into the heart of history's most thrilling and terrifying events, including the sinking of the Titanic, the Shark Attacks of 1916, Hurricane Katrina, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the San Francisco earthquake, 9/11, and the Battle of Gettysburg. Writing these books often makes her feel very nervous, as though at any moment a volcano could erupt right outside her window. Then again, she has learned a thing or two about avoiding being eaten by a shark.
Lauren is also the author of the the award-winning Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree and its sequel, Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love.

For more information, go to her website: www.LaurenTarshis.com

And check out the I Survived Website: www.Scholastic.com/ISurvived

Reviews

[Victoria]

My 2nd grader raved about this series, so I had to check them out for myself. Keep in mind, my 8 year old son is not a fan of reading. He's required to read 15-20 minutes a night and he makes sure he doesn't go a second beyond 15 minutes by setting a timer!

The author does an amazing job bringing to life historical events for young readers. She puts the reader directly into the action in a simplified, easy to understand style. Any book that can excite a reluctant reader gets a 5-star from me!

I was thrilled to be able to discuss each story with my son and see how engrossed he was with each tragedy. These stories give parents an optimal opening to learn how your child thinks and feels about real-life events. I've already ordered a few in the series that he can't find at his school library. Bravo to the author for creating this series.

[Kimberly]

Literature Genre: Historical Fiction
Ages: 7-10 years

This book is a mini-novel about the sinking of Titanic, and helps the young mind get a grasp of what truly happened during that night. This novel is written from the standpoint of a young boy traveling in first class with his younger sister and aunt. He is a bit of a mischief maker and goes "exploring" the ship with his sister trailing behind him, when the Titanic strikes an iceberg. This begins the story within the true story.

George, the young boy, is told by Mr. Andrews, the Titanic's architect that there are not enough life boats to save every passenger on board, but that the ship is "unsinkable". Since this is a children's novel, the chaos that happens that night is downgraded, but there is still much suspense. The story depicts enough of the true story to give a child the feeling of what it must have been like aboard the Titanic on this awful night. The novel describes how life was during that period of time; showing the divisions between upper and lower-class citizens. It describes first-class women and children being put into life boats before the others, with the screaming children being torn from their father’s arms. You can sense the fear and sadness everyone experienced during this tragic event, which was devastating for all of them. The book mentions how cold the water is, and it truly was a freezing 28 degrees Fahrenheit. In the story, the front of the ship goes under first and the back rises up toward the sky; some of those still on board are screaming. The lights go dark and the Titanic sinks. All of this is true to historical fact.

[Tammy]

Good books! I bought the entire "I survived" book set for my autistic son and read every book to him when he was little. It's always fun to turn these books into a little history lesson and show him YouTube videos of live footage or a book review. It makes the experience of reading these books much more interesting for someone that doesn't enjoy reading and struggles with it. The characters are fictional and the author does a great job researching before writing.

[Oliver]

Cool! Chet's uncle Jerry argues about the captain's story about the killer shark. Chet and his friends play tricks on each other, but his friends did one that made Chet angry. They pretended that there was a shark by dressing up as one with a giant fin. Then, Chet pretends to be the mud man of the swamp. He took it to far. READ IT!

[Keshia]

4.5 Stars. My students order these books from Scholastic quite a bit so I decided to check them out. They are excellent! You truly feel like you are there with these kids and what they’re going through. Great for read-alouds as well. I will definitely read more in the series!

[Deb]

Great Books for Jr High students

[Brian Dominguez]

The disaster was so sad and the kid had a bad life and the other kids were so I don't know the word but irs sad

[Evabrown]

Great books

[Jacob Ellman]

Great book. There is a lot of stories.

[Gavan Blystone]

it was good

[bryanna marion England]

Awesome books

This book was awesome
I would consider it to my family and friends
I would be say add more detail

[Tracie]

My 2nd grader loved these books. It really has jumpstarted a love for reading. He couldn't put them down.

[Rondi]

Great little book (shark attack one) about a historical event that will resonate well with kids!

[Duggan B]

Was a great book!

[Arjun Murali]

These epic stories take you on a adventure through time

[Margaret Russell]

Greatly engaging stories of historic disasters told through a child who survived.

[Huey Pham]

i like it