What do you think?
Rate this book
What was...?
What Was the Titanic?
For more than 100 years, people have been captivated by the disastrous sinking of the Titanic that claimed over 1,500 lives. Now young readers can find out why the great ship went down and how it was discovered seventy-five years later.
At 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, the Royal Mail Steamer Titanic, the largest passenger steamship of this time, met its catastrophic end after crashing into an iceberg. Of the 2,240 passengers and crew onboard, only 705 survived. More than 100 years later, today's readers will be intrigued by the mystery that surrounds this ship that was originally labeled "unsinkable."
Look for more Who HQ
What Was the Great Chicago Fire?
What Was Hurricane Katrina?
What Was the San Francisco Earthquake?
Disasters!: A Who HQ Collection
At 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, the Royal Mail Steamer Titanic, the largest passenger steamship of this time, met its catastrophic end after crashing into an iceberg. Of the 2,240 passengers and crew onboard, only 705 survived. More than 100 years later, today's readers will be intrigued by the mystery that surrounds this ship that was originally labeled "unsinkable."
Look for more Who HQ
What Was the Great Chicago Fire?
What Was Hurricane Katrina?
What Was the San Francisco Earthquake?
Disasters!: A Who HQ Collection
112 pages, Library Binding
Published March 6, 2018
267 people are currently reading
627 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews
July 6, 2019
If...if only the lookouts broke in to the locker to get their binoculars. If only the son of the dead founder wasn't on the ship pushing the captain to go full steam ahead (in order to chase some vain publicity stunt, putting all those lives at risk). If only the telegraph operators had listened to the messages from nearby ship Californian rather than sending non-sense egotistical messages from rich passengers to their family in New York etc.
If only the bulkheads were taller (or all the way to the ceiling) to lock in the water and prevent flooding.
All disasters have many causes, it just takes bad luck for them to all comes together at one point.
Makes me want to study human factors and disasters more (I have some books on disasters and risk and some on Chernobyl - which is popular again due to the streaming show and tourism again).
If only the bulkheads were taller (or all the way to the ceiling) to lock in the water and prevent flooding.
All disasters have many causes, it just takes bad luck for them to all comes together at one point.
Makes me want to study human factors and disasters more (I have some books on disasters and risk and some on Chernobyl - which is popular again due to the streaming show and tourism again).
November 22, 2025
Still learned some new things from this children’s book.
March 1, 2024
4.0
Fueling my son’s newfound obsession with the Titanic. He and I both enjoyed this book.
Fueling my son’s newfound obsession with the Titanic. He and I both enjoyed this book.
January 25, 2023
This is a good book if you want to learn more on the titanic. Also did you know that the distress signal was first CQD and then shortly after they called that signal they used the SOS distress signal for the first time and that was the first time anyone had ever used that signal.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2023
Great book. If you like books on Titanic, then this is a must read.
July 16, 2021
You may be thinking, "I don't need to read this Titanic kid's book. I won't learn anything new." That's not true! Even adults can learn from this book. I learned some new facts, and I am a huge Titanic fan already. Here are a few examples: the "victualling crew" included the waiters, maids, and attendants (30). The iceberg that hit the Titanic was probably 400 feet long. The first report after the Titanic hit the iceberg was actually favorable; then they inspected the damage in the lower decks and learned the truth. I was very fascinated to learn, "The job of the lifeboats would be to take passengers from the ship in trouble to the rescue vessel. The lifeboats would serve as ferries... No one imagined a situation in which everyone would need to be evacuated on lifeboats, all at the same time" (64). This is not how lifeboats are viewed anymore today. Finally when they found John Jacob Astor IV's body, it was covered in soot which led people to believe one of the funnels fell on him (85).
This is geared towards elementary-age kids but can be enjoyed by really any reader. I appreciated how the author did not simply cover the Titanic being built up to the sinking and then stop there. Oh no, she included background information leading up to the Titanic by dedicating an entire chapter to ships as transportation from the 1700s to the early 1900s. Then there are several chapters focusing on the aftermath including the discovery of the Titanic by Robert D. Ballard and her legacy with Titanic's continued popularity. Finally the last chapter is titled "What If?" and discusses all the questions we still ponder such as could this tragedy have been avoided?
While this is obviously a quick read for adults, it provides a great summary of everything related to Titanic. The illustrations, even though they are black and white drawings, are very informative. There are several diagrams and charts with vocabulary such as the ship's parts, the number of passengers, and a timeline of the disaster. Additionally, there are 16 pages of real photos including The New York Times newspaper announcing the tragedy. The Who HQ series (Who? What? Where?) also always includes at the back a timeline of the subject (Titanic) compared to a timeline of the world and a bibliography with books for younger readers starred.
This is the first Who HQ series book I have read, and I am impressed with their level of details and timelines and drawings. The bibliography also encourages kids to read more books once they find a topic that interests them. I would highly recommend this book for both Titanic fans and fans of the Who HQ series. This series teaches kids all about history and being inquisitive. What if the Titanic had hit the iceberg head on? Maybe less than four compartments would have flooded, and she would have stayed afloat. And the two questions, I can't stop thinking about: what if the watertight bulkheads would've been extended all the way up and what if there would've been enough lifeboats?
Sadly, now one can only try to learn from these mistakes by continuing to study history. Now to that effect, I think I'm going to read a few more Who HQ books myself!
This is geared towards elementary-age kids but can be enjoyed by really any reader. I appreciated how the author did not simply cover the Titanic being built up to the sinking and then stop there. Oh no, she included background information leading up to the Titanic by dedicating an entire chapter to ships as transportation from the 1700s to the early 1900s. Then there are several chapters focusing on the aftermath including the discovery of the Titanic by Robert D. Ballard and her legacy with Titanic's continued popularity. Finally the last chapter is titled "What If?" and discusses all the questions we still ponder such as could this tragedy have been avoided?
While this is obviously a quick read for adults, it provides a great summary of everything related to Titanic. The illustrations, even though they are black and white drawings, are very informative. There are several diagrams and charts with vocabulary such as the ship's parts, the number of passengers, and a timeline of the disaster. Additionally, there are 16 pages of real photos including The New York Times newspaper announcing the tragedy. The Who HQ series (Who? What? Where?) also always includes at the back a timeline of the subject (Titanic) compared to a timeline of the world and a bibliography with books for younger readers starred.
This is the first Who HQ series book I have read, and I am impressed with their level of details and timelines and drawings. The bibliography also encourages kids to read more books once they find a topic that interests them. I would highly recommend this book for both Titanic fans and fans of the Who HQ series. This series teaches kids all about history and being inquisitive. What if the Titanic had hit the iceberg head on? Maybe less than four compartments would have flooded, and she would have stayed afloat. And the two questions, I can't stop thinking about: what if the watertight bulkheads would've been extended all the way up and what if there would've been enough lifeboats?
Sadly, now one can only try to learn from these mistakes by continuing to study history. Now to that effect, I think I'm going to read a few more Who HQ books myself!
February 5, 2019
I thought of this book a great book because it had interesting facts in this book. It told me this boat was unsinkable. A lot of people died from the crash against the iceberg in the ice fields.
July 22, 2019
Very interesting
This one was really interesting. I love how they give a timeline as well as actual photos. Very well written.
This one was really interesting. I love how they give a timeline as well as actual photos. Very well written.
October 20, 2025
I will read absolutely anything that has to do with the RMS Titanic and it will get 5 stars every time.
April 13, 2024
I already knew everything, but it's titanic so it's ok
OH IT MENTIONED THE MOVIE SO TEEHEEE
Literally wasn't a bad book, it just was boring because I scanned through it for school, soooo yknow!!!
OH IT MENTIONED THE MOVIE SO TEEHEEE
Literally wasn't a bad book, it just was boring because I scanned through it for school, soooo yknow!!!
February 11, 2023
I have spent a lot of time reading about the Titanic, and this was a well-done nonfiction for kids and adults alike. There’s always more to learn, more to ponder. So many “If onlys” factor into this tragedy.
Read
February 10, 2019What Was the Titanic? By Stephanie Sabol is a very breath-taking book. This book obviously is about the Titanic it tells me how they build it, how they fit the ship meaning putting in everything a ship needs, life aboard the ship, how the warnings happened, and ICEBERG! This book also told me some things I didn’t know such as the crew were not prepared for an emergency because they were very confident that nothing would happen but, unfortunately, they were wrong. In the end, people were frustrated because they were not prepared for an emergency. Meanwhile, the ship was sinking the captain did not want to leave the ship, if the ship drowns he drowns. This book I liked because it taught me things I didn’t know about the Titanic and many other facts. This book is recommended for you!
July 1, 2022
I didn’t intend to read all of this, but here we are lol
November 13, 2018
Summary:
The grandest unsinkable luxury ship ever made, the Titanic, well that’s what everyone assumed anyways. The ship left England intending to make it to New York, but the ship would never make it there because tragedy struck before they could ever make it to land.
Evaluation:
The author clearly presents the information is well organized in the order of the events and how they occurred in a timeline type of writing. The author makes it easy for readers to find information according to what they are looking for based on the Contents page provided in the beginning of the book. The author also provided real life pictures from the titanic to allow readers to get a clear description and visual of what the text was saying.
Teaching Idea:
I would use this book in grades 4th and 5th as part of the social studies or ELA content area. This book would be a great way to grab student’s attention with details from the Titanic that would be on their level of understanding. This allows students to learn about the tragedy that struck many peoples lives and became a historic event. Students can use the timeline presented in this book to develop their own understanding of a timeline. Because students first have to read the text and then in the back of the book there is a detailed timeline giving explicit details of what happened.
The grandest unsinkable luxury ship ever made, the Titanic, well that’s what everyone assumed anyways. The ship left England intending to make it to New York, but the ship would never make it there because tragedy struck before they could ever make it to land.
Evaluation:
The author clearly presents the information is well organized in the order of the events and how they occurred in a timeline type of writing. The author makes it easy for readers to find information according to what they are looking for based on the Contents page provided in the beginning of the book. The author also provided real life pictures from the titanic to allow readers to get a clear description and visual of what the text was saying.
Teaching Idea:
I would use this book in grades 4th and 5th as part of the social studies or ELA content area. This book would be a great way to grab student’s attention with details from the Titanic that would be on their level of understanding. This allows students to learn about the tragedy that struck many peoples lives and became a historic event. Students can use the timeline presented in this book to develop their own understanding of a timeline. Because students first have to read the text and then in the back of the book there is a detailed timeline giving explicit details of what happened.
April 10, 2018
Sabol, Stephanie What Was the Titanic?, 107 pages. NON-FICTION Penguin Workshop (Penguin), 2018. $16. Language: G.
This book tells how the Titanic was built from the hull to the elegant first, second and third class rooms. It explains what life is like in the different parts of the ship for workers or different classes of people. Then the night the Titanic hits the iceberg and the rescue efforts as well how many different people died. There is also a chapter about the sea explorer who discovered the sunken Titanic two miles below sea.
The sinking of the Titanic is considered one of the greatest disasters at sea of all time and whether because it has been Hollywoodized or just because it is a shocking tragedy, it’s a story that is still worth reading about. The pictures throughout the book are sketches and sixteen photographs, they could have been better, but they help the reader visualize the story. I love this series of books and think they are a fantastic way to get nonfiction stories to younger readers as well as supplement history lessons.
EL (K-3), EL – ESSENTIAL; MS – ADVISABLE. Reviewer, C. Peterson.
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018...
This book tells how the Titanic was built from the hull to the elegant first, second and third class rooms. It explains what life is like in the different parts of the ship for workers or different classes of people. Then the night the Titanic hits the iceberg and the rescue efforts as well how many different people died. There is also a chapter about the sea explorer who discovered the sunken Titanic two miles below sea.
The sinking of the Titanic is considered one of the greatest disasters at sea of all time and whether because it has been Hollywoodized or just because it is a shocking tragedy, it’s a story that is still worth reading about. The pictures throughout the book are sketches and sixteen photographs, they could have been better, but they help the reader visualize the story. I love this series of books and think they are a fantastic way to get nonfiction stories to younger readers as well as supplement history lessons.
EL (K-3), EL – ESSENTIAL; MS – ADVISABLE. Reviewer, C. Peterson.
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018...
January 19, 2020
Delightful, as usual!
I always recommend this series to my students, as well as other adults who want bite-size chunks of history. Even though each book takes less than a half hour to read, whenever I finish one I feel like I've gained a lot of knowledge. It's amazing how much they can pack in there.
A couple fun tidbits:
*More than 3 million rivets were used.
*Eight men died during the construction. 15,000 worked on the Titanic.
*"RMS" stood for "Royal Mail Ship." There were over 7 million letters on board.
*This was going to be Captain Smith's last voyage before he retired.
*In third class 700 people had to share 2 bathtubs, but all-in-all, the quarters were better than third class on other ships.
*Some experts believe the ship will completely disintegrate within the next 50 years due to all the bacteria.
I always recommend this series to my students, as well as other adults who want bite-size chunks of history. Even though each book takes less than a half hour to read, whenever I finish one I feel like I've gained a lot of knowledge. It's amazing how much they can pack in there.
A couple fun tidbits:
*More than 3 million rivets were used.
*Eight men died during the construction. 15,000 worked on the Titanic.
*"RMS" stood for "Royal Mail Ship." There were over 7 million letters on board.
*This was going to be Captain Smith's last voyage before he retired.
*In third class 700 people had to share 2 bathtubs, but all-in-all, the quarters were better than third class on other ships.
*Some experts believe the ship will completely disintegrate within the next 50 years due to all the bacteria.
July 2, 2019
What Was the Titanic by Stephanie Sabol is a relatively short read intended primarily for a younger audience. But, having said that, the author packs a lot of facts and historical information about the building of the Titanic and its tragic maiden voyage as well as the aftermath. Having read several other books on the Titanic targeted towards an adult audience, this book does a very credible job of explaining various aspects of why and how the Titanic met its end and is in agreement with facts presented in other books. Great read for a younger audience and also a quick read of the main facts for an adult reader.
August 18, 2020
A great quick read for kids and even adults who are diehard Titanic history buffs. I’m one and almost anything on the topics gets me going. However it is overtly clear that the language and strategies of framing of the story are ripped right from the 1997 blockbuster. But the film was good so maybe that’s what made this book interesting and flow nicely. Also, diagrams and illustrations were great, and I especially enjoyed the little historical vignettes that were included in addition to the main body of work.
April 20, 2018
The cover picture is atrocious and the illustrations are heavily influenced by the 1997 film but the info is solid and the photos included at the end were well worth the reading experience. Recommended.
January 19, 2023
Short biography style book. This series is a favorite among my students each year; they rarely stay on my classroom library shelves. Students like them because they are short, but still full of information.
November 19, 2018
What Was the Titanic? is full of facts about the most famous shipwreck of all time. It interesting how all the events fell into place to create the magnitude of this tragedy. Kids will eagerly read its history.
Includes a Timeline of the Titanic, Timeline of the World, and Bibliography.
Includes a Timeline of the Titanic, Timeline of the World, and Bibliography.
October 15, 2019
I read this book with my daughter, who is in the fifth grade and interested in all things Titanic. It is a very informative book that is well organized and filled with interesting details about the disaster that was the Titanic.
February 24, 2020
Pretty interesting topic. Tons of kids at my elementary school come to the library looking for books about the Titanic. What a sad but eerily compelling true story in our history. I might have to re-watch the movie with Leo now. :)
February 28, 2022
Read this out loud with my Titanic obsessed 5-year-old. Excellent!
April 27, 2023
This book was okay and short. A good book for a quick read.
August 16, 2022
Lots of information in here but it was presented in an understandable way
-steam engines became more used
-2 shipping companies in competition: 1 made a fast ship so how too? Make bigger
-called unsinkable because of 16 compartments with doors in the hull to prevent flooding
-only needed 3 funnels to remove smoke and fumes. Head builder thought 4 would look cooler. So fake funnel
-no food could be brought on after launch. Needed food for 2200 people
-3500 sacks of mail
-Captain’s last voyage
-luxury ship. Second class on titanic was better than first on many others
-wanted to arrive in New York early
-operators didn’t listen to warning and instead send out passengers messages
-45 min later, lookouts see the iceberg
-as water flooded in couldn’t stay within 4 compartments (max number to be unsinkable). Given 2 hours
-lifeboats can’t hold all passengers. Over a thousand would be abandoned
-one of first times SOS was used
-those not on lifeboats froze before rescue ship could get to them about 90 min after titanic sank
-when ship go to new york, ship director was questioned and wanted for a trial
-senate made updated safety rules
-titanic wreckage was discovered using a machine called Argo. 12,500 feet under water. Took 2.5 hours to travel to wreckage by submarine
-bacteria is eating ship creating rusticles. Soon it will just be dust
-titanic movie: $200 million to make. Nearly make to scale model of ship. 17,000,000 gallon water tank to imitate sinking. Earned $2 billion+
-if 1 of so many options had gone differently, there could have been a chance that no one died and there was no disaster at all
-steam engines became more used
-2 shipping companies in competition: 1 made a fast ship so how too? Make bigger
-called unsinkable because of 16 compartments with doors in the hull to prevent flooding
-only needed 3 funnels to remove smoke and fumes. Head builder thought 4 would look cooler. So fake funnel
-no food could be brought on after launch. Needed food for 2200 people
-3500 sacks of mail
-Captain’s last voyage
-luxury ship. Second class on titanic was better than first on many others
-wanted to arrive in New York early
-operators didn’t listen to warning and instead send out passengers messages
-45 min later, lookouts see the iceberg
-as water flooded in couldn’t stay within 4 compartments (max number to be unsinkable). Given 2 hours
-lifeboats can’t hold all passengers. Over a thousand would be abandoned
-one of first times SOS was used
-those not on lifeboats froze before rescue ship could get to them about 90 min after titanic sank
-when ship go to new york, ship director was questioned and wanted for a trial
-senate made updated safety rules
-titanic wreckage was discovered using a machine called Argo. 12,500 feet under water. Took 2.5 hours to travel to wreckage by submarine
-bacteria is eating ship creating rusticles. Soon it will just be dust
-titanic movie: $200 million to make. Nearly make to scale model of ship. 17,000,000 gallon water tank to imitate sinking. Earned $2 billion+
-if 1 of so many options had gone differently, there could have been a chance that no one died and there was no disaster at all
Read
October 28, 2021My favorite character from the captain of the Titanic I think he was just a little bit going to give more emotion and all the people that was not really a big character in the Titanic but the people I think I think I do I don't have a favorite character maybe the captain because he had a lot of emotion he was I can tell you scared in the book Somewhat surprised me was I guess when they hit the iceberg I'm glad they surprised me I got to go that's how the Titanic sank it was something that broke on the boat and kind of the same thing but now I know it's because I couldn't ask for a really hard and they were in like the Pacific Ocean or no mistaking but yeah it was just really really did not think that would happen because I thought they would also I think there was a guy watching on the in the book there was a guy watching just to make sure everything went to hit cuz he wasn't doing his job but yeah so that's fun for them but yeah no it would not change the ending because first of all it's ancient history and of History which I would not change because I would not be here if if just simple things in the past can change the whole thing those people will be alive and well won't they will be dead but not by actually but they would be a vice and so I don't change it because it's all so it's except it is but it's just its history that you can never change anyways so yeah I would not change
March 18, 2024
This is a nonfiction book about the Titanic and all the events that had led up and happened during the sinking of the ship. This is a great transition book for kids as its format is similar to The Magic Treehouse and The Rainbow Magic series. I really enjoyed this series because it is so educational to kids and can teach them so much. I have personally seen how these books can affect kids. My brother read this one when he was younger and he became obsessed with the Titanic, we even had a museum have a Titanic display and my brother went countless times. I think that these books and this series can really interest kids and teach them so much. I wanted to read this book because I had to present nonfiction as my group genre project. I was glad I picked this series because it brought back so many memories for me. I would one hundred percent add this book to my personal library because I enjoyed the read and I truly think this series is such a good one for kids. I think that kids would read these books for fun, as my brother and I did. I think they would add them to their own libraries as they grow older.
November 4, 2024
The books name is What is the Titanic and the author is Stephanie Sabol. I give this book a 8/10 it is ok I like it there is not a lot of details in the book there is a lot but not as much as the real titanic has. The book has 105 pages in it. I recommend this book to 8 or up and I am not a big fan of reading. the theme is like telling facts about the titanic and like how many people did not survive the titanic mosh who did where women or kids and staff. The book tells about how and what happened WITH THE TITANIC. so what happened is the question so when the titanic was on sea they had a lot of passengers on bord at the time and they they went to a lot of places to get people and to let people off of it and on there way to New York City and they crashed into the iceberg and the titanic sunk and a lot of people sadly died.
March 27, 2019
The Titanic! The unsinkable boat! So they thought...I recently finished the book “ What was the Titanic” and I would rate this book 4 stars. I would rate this book 4 stars, because I really like that the book included pictures of information from the Titanic. Some pictures were of the Titanic itself, lifeboats, newspaper articles, and people from the Titanic. Another reason why I would rate this book 4 stars is because it really gave good detail when describing what happened on the night that they Titanic sank. Many people thought the Titanic was unsinkable. But it wasn’t unfortunately..The book included a two timelines in the back of the book, this really helped me throughout the book. So overall, I rate this book “What was the Titanic” by Stephanie Sabol 4 stars..
Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews