A good mix of history, mystery, and the supernatural makes for a fast-paced, engaging story. ( )

I think this novel will be a hit with our students. Anytime I read a mystery novel, I remember how much I enjoy them and this was no exception. I must admit that I wasn't surprised at all by the connection between Annie, Michael and Kevin; still, younger readers would find this plot exciting, adventurous and mysterious. A well written novel. ( )

A teenage boy finds himself caught up in a century-old mystery — aboard the Titanic!
Kevin and his family are enroute to Halifax to check out a house they have mysteriously inherited from a man named Angus Seaton — mysterious because none of them have any clue who he was or why they would be named in his will.

While at the house, Kevin does his own investigating and discovers some old artifacts hidden behind a wall, including enigmatic photographs dating back to 1911, which show a young woman and her baby. ( )

Jake's Review: DNF - Too scary for me. BTW, Mom you really have a weird fascination for that ship. Guys my Mom got me a Titanic model and she used to sing me the Titanic song all the time and wonders why I don't like swimming. And FYI don't ever get her started on that "travesty of an animated movie where all the Titanic passengers are saved" -- she won't shut up for hours about that!
Jake's Rating: N/A

Mom's Review: I should have known better than to try and give Jake a ghost story to review, but Mommy likes stories about the Titanic and wanted to get her boy interested too. I did read some chapters to him that didn't have to do with Ghosts and he was interested, so I will be keeping this for him for the future. So if anyone has some suggestions on how I can get my 9 yr old to be less scared of things, I would be very interested and maybe willing to give out books to those with some helpful suggestions. Anyways, back to the review. I really enjoyed this one (no shock as I adore pretty much anything to do with the Titanic) and would recommend it as a great book for a classroom or school library. I think it would be a great opener for teachers or teacher librarians to discuss quite a few topics in relation to the Titanic disaster. The book is obviously well researched and written in a way where kids I think will become interested in finding out more about the tragedy. The storyline itself is interesting even if you have no real interest in the Titanic disaster itself. The relationship between Kevin and his family is very realistic and will appeal to kids who just don't know where they fit it. That being said I really disliked Kevin's dad and thought he was a big dufus (not quite the word I would normally use -- but I like to be a little less colourful when reviewing books that are meant for middle school kids). Also as a Canadian -- I love the fact that it is set in Canada and mentions quite a few Canadian facts and history. Also there is some information about the 1917 Halifax explosion which is something I know very little about -- well except for what I learned from the Historica Minute spots from TV.

Mom's Rating: 8.5/10

We received this from Scholastic in exchange for an honest review ( )