Lifeboat 12

June 15, 2018
An escape from war-torn Britain becomes a struggle for survival when a ship is torpedoed off the coast of England. In June 1940, Great Britain formed the Children's Overseas Reception Board to transfer Britain's children away from the encroaching war to safe harbors around the world. Over 200,000 children between the ages of 5 and 15 applied for just 20,000 spots. Thirteen-year-old Kenneth Sparks is chosen to travel on the City of Benares, a luxury ocean liner, to Canada, where he will live with his aunt in Edmonton. The children are distracted by rich food, new toys, and soft beds, but the accompanying convoy of war ships is a constant reminder that while the blitzkrieg might be behind them, German torpedoes are a very present threat. Three days into their voyage, the Benares is hit, sending crew and passengers into the lifeboats and the water. Ken, along with a handful of others, all white except 32 Asian sailors of varied ethnicity (called Lascars at the time), must survive with little water, food, or shelter if they are to make it out alive. Told in verse, the story of Lifeboat 12 is lyrical, terrifying, and even at times funny. Hood makes effective use of line breaks and punctuation to wrap readers up in Ken's tale. Copious research, including interviews with the real Ken Sparks, went into the making of this fictional recasting of a true story of survival. Backmatter offers further information, including the racism experienced by the Lascars.A richly detailed account of a little-known event in World War II. (Historical verse fiction. 9-12)

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January 1, 2019
This propulsive novel in verse tells the tale of thirteen-year-old Ken, who boarded a ship to Canada to avoid Nazi bombs raining down on London during World War II. When the ship is torpedoed, Ken and fellow child passengers must find a way to survive on Lifeboat 12. Based on real events and people, Hood's novel is an excellent addition to the canon of WWII fiction. Extensive back matter includes an author's note, source lists, and historical photos.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from May 1, 2018

Gr 4-7-It's 1940, the beginning of the Blitz, and 13-year-old Kenneth Sparks is selected to go to Canada as part of a program to send British children to the safety of the U.K.'s overseas dominions. When his ship is torpedoed, Kenneth, five other boys from the program, and about 40 adults make it aboard Lifeboat 12, one of the only lifeboats remaining after the evening's gale-force winds. Together, they must survive the North Atlantic in a boat with limited supplies. Evocative verse perfectly captures the horror of their situation, the agonizing disappointment of near-rescues, and the tedium of daily life aboard a cramped lifeboat. For example, immediately following the shipwreck, Kenneth spies the red rocking horse that had been in the children's playroom floating in the wreckage: "It rears up from the sea, /the red horse of war, /its mouth open, /silently screaming/at all it sees, /rocking up and down/in the waves, /past the bodies of those/I now know/are already/dead." Adding to the appeal of this work is an exceptionally well-curated and organized array of back matter that includes an author's note, a nonfiction account of the real-life Lifeboat 12, photos, an essay on the author's sources and research technique, and documented source notes for a significant amount of the book's dialogue. VERDICT This stirring novel-in-verse based on a true story is an edge-of-your-seat survival tale, an extensively researched work of historical fiction, and an exemplar of the form.-Eileen Makoff, P.S. 90 Edna Cohen School, NY

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