My Ocean Liner: Across the North Atlantic on the Great Ship Normandie - Hardcover

Mandel, Peter; MacDonald, Betsey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0880451491 ISBN 13: 9780880451499

Publisher: STEMMER HOUSE PUBLISHERS, 2000

Synopsis

Intended for ages 7-12. This chapter book recounts the adventures of boy Paul, travelling from New York to France on the ocean liner, Normandie. It describes the pleasures and novelties of life at sea, and the unexpected adventures that Paul encounters. It includes colour illustrations, recreating the details of the liner.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Mandel grew up in Manhattan, where he watched classic ocean liners like the S.S. United States and the France from his rooftop. Nowadays an adventure travel journalist for The Washington Post and The Boston Globe, he's the author of eleven books for children published by Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, Scholastic, Hyperion, and Henry Holt. Mandel lives in Providence with his wife, Kathy, and cats, Betty, Emily and Cecil. Get in touch with him at petermandel.net

From the Inside Flap

Imagine this: It is a bright April afternoon in New York in the year 1939. The breeze is fresh, the ship's flags are flying, and you are a nine-year-old boy about to board the fastest and most admired ocean liner in the world, bound for France. So begin the adventures of Paul, a boy who takes in every detail of the passengers' spaces the lavish cabins, the dining room and the decks and whose powers of observation later solve the mystery of a lost boy, as he leads a search that could have ended badly except for his quick thinking. And he will certainly never forget the great storm at sea, in which he nearly slides overboard. Most of all, Paul will never forget the great ocean liner Normandie, the officers who give him a once-in-a-lifetime tour of the ship, and the warm, caring steward and stewardess with whom he becomes lifelong friends. Equally important to this book are the superb illustrations in full color that appear on nearly every page. Thoroughly researched by the artist, Betsey MacDonald, from rare old photographs and illustrations of the Normandie, each detail of the paintings was finally put throuth a rigorous inspection for accuracy by John Maxtone-Graham, maritime historian, who has also written the introduction to this book. The illustrations meticulously recreate the grand details of the legendary liner, from its lavish suites and dining room to its bridge and engine room.

So, as Paul finishes his tale with nostalgia for the lost world so vividly recreated in these words and pictures, the reader will share his memories and know much of the look, sounds and rhythms of the huge ship and feel the excitement of being on one of the greatest of all ocean liners in its glory days.

Reviews

Part travelogue, part nostalgic ramble through the heyday of great ocean liners, this story shoehorns a fair amount of information into a simple chapter book about a five-day trip across the Atlantic. It's April 1939, and nine-year-old Paul and his parents set off from Manhattan to France and England aboard the Normandie, the queen of the famous French Line. From the family's well-appointed cabin (the Deauville suite, complete with a baby grand piano) to the elegant dining room and the pampering by their steward and stewardess, readers will know that this is a voyage in grand style. Mandel (Say Hey!) inserts a mild mystery subplot involving a missing boyAthe hunt for whom allows Paul a chance to tour areas normally off-limits to passengers, such as the bridge and the engine room. While this device helps propel the story, it also points up its main flaw: nothing much happens. However, MacDonald's (Scarecrowell) carefully researched watercolors (at least one per spread) provide charming period window dressing, and the narrative offers an appealing glimpse of a bygone shipboard life. Ages 7-12. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"Paul! Wake up! Look out the window!" It was my dad getting up early to see the huge Normandie our own ocean liner sliding into its Hudson River dock. Dad and I hung out the window, wide awake, excited and waiting for the whistle to blow.

It was April, and the year was 1939. I was nine years old. My mom and dad and I would be leaving our apartment on Manhattan's West Side to visit France and England. In those days, nobody traveled to Europe by airplane. People sailed across the Altantic in huge ships called ocean liners. I couldn't stop thinking about it.

"The trip will take five days," my mom told me, as she was stuffing an extra sweater and some socks into my suitcase. "Sailing on the Normandie will be a real adventure."

"She's the biggest ship in the world," said my dad, who had come to tuck me in. "As big as an office building or a hotel but this hotel can float!"

When the lights were out, I thought about what would happen the next morning. I had been to Pier 88, where we would go aboard, so I knew what that looked like. But it was hard to imagine being up close to a ship as big as a building or a hotel. In my dream that night, I climbed steps and more steps, trying to climb high enough to get on board.

In our taxi the next day, my dad put his hand on my shoulder. Looming behind the piers along the Hudson River, I saw a huge white-and-black shape.

When three red smokestacks came into view, I knew we were looking at a French liner my ocean liner the Normandie.

Going aboard was not like my dream at all. There were no stairs to climb; only an enclosed ramp called a gangway.Through an opening, we could look down at waves sloshing between the metal hull of the ship and the dock. I ran the last few yards of the gangway until I was safely aboard.

"Let's get the luggage stowed, and then we're going right up on deck," said my dad. "I don't want Paul to miss the tugboats."

Just then we saw young men wearing uniforms with silver buttons walking quickly past us in the hallway. One of them was banging on a Chinese gong. "Visitors will please leave the ship," another of them kept crying out. "All ashore that's going ashore!"

Edition details

• Publisher: STEMMER HOUSE PUBLISHERS
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0880451491
• ISBN 13: 9780880451499
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 44
• Illustrator: MacDonald Betsey