Titanic Frank Sloan

[Logan Geen]

Has anyone ever read this book for the younger audience? It isn't bad although it had one goof that I picked up on even in 4th grade: It read in one section that "some 900 had left the Titanic on lifeboats and 705 of them were squeezed onto the Carpathia". Although the British Inquiry did indeed come up with a total of 900 some odd people I remember thinking when I read this book "OK, so what happened to the other 200 people?!"

Other than that, I remember this book as a being a pretty good, especially for the younger set.

 

[Fiona Nitschke]

Yes, I've read it. The copy I've read is the more recent revised edition (1998) that included information on the musical and Cameron's film. Unfortunately the inclusion of this new material seems to have resulted in the ommission of some maps and diagrams, and I believed the book poorer for this despite the pictures of Kate Winslet. However, of the non fiction works for that age group, I still believe it to be one of the better efforts.

 

[Logan Geen]

Hi Fiona,
You wouldn't happen to know if he is related to Mary Sloan the surviving stewardess? I doubt it but I was thinking that his last name sounded familiar from somewhere else in the Titanic saga. I don't believe much is known about Ms. Sloan after the Carpathia landed. It would be interesting if she was. Just a thought!

 

[Fiona Nitschke]

Logan, an intriguing idea and one that made me pick up the book again for another look. I still think the 1998 edition has one of the most striking covers I've ever seen on a non fiction book for this particular market. Now that I know Sloan started out in design, I can't help but wonder if he had a hand in this (even though Gino Coverty is credited as the cover designer).

To be honest, I'd be surprised if there was a connection and no mention had been made of it for the extra fillip. Anyway, I googled for more info on his other books and found something even better: an interview with him on Writing, Illustrating, and Publishing Children's Books: The Purple Crayon. Here's the key excerpt on Titanic:

quote:

OLSWANGER: Did you go into publishing because you wanted to be a writer?

SLOAN: I wanted to be in publishing. Titanic came about by accident. I was in London the day that Ballard first found the remains of the ship. My boss was there and I mentioned to her that this would be a terrific children's book. She agreed, and asked, "Who are you going to get to write it?" I said, "Well, I'll think about that over the next two weeks." And I realized over those two weeks that I wanted to write it. The topic had interested me since I was a kid and I thought this was a chance I wanted to take.

The full interview can be read at: A conversation with Frank Sloan. He also makes interesting comments on the what he sees as the distinction between non fiction and educational works (textbooks).​