Avis Dolphin

Rumors of German U-boats and the prospect of a new school in England make twelve-year-old Avis Dolphin nervous about traveling on the Lusitania. Once aboard, however, the most she has to contend with are petty rivalries between her two older chaperones, both on the lookout for eligible bachelors. Only the warm friendship of Professor Holbourn, laird of a tiny Scottish island, brings Avis diversion -- that, and the dramatic serial story he tells her, of shipwreck, courage, and an adventurous girl-hero. When the Lusitania is torpedoed, near the end of the book, Avis herself bravely lives out shipwreck and rescue. Avis’s mildly eventful shipboard life is counterbalanced by Holbourn’s ferocious adventure story, presented in wordless graphic-novel panels interspersed throughout the main text. Avis’s descriptions of elegant furnishings and delicious food stand in stark contrast to Dawson’s visual imagery of wild vegetation and the horror-inspiring “bogeyman and giant” of Holbourn’s tale; but when the Lusitania sinks, the stories converge, and that wildness aptly conveys Avis’s desperation and terror. Inspired by real Lusitania survivor Avis Dolphin, Wishinsky creates a narrator whose voice is a (sometimes awkward) mix of contemporary (short, declarative sentences and a flat present tense) and period (a sedate, dignified tone and historically realistic interactions). deirdre f. bakerreflect the time period and immerse the reader in that part of history.

Aboard the Lusitania, twelve-year-old Avis Dolphin befriends Professor Holbourn, who tells her a dramatic serial story of shipwreck, courage, and a girl-hero. When the Lusitania is torpedoed, Avis (a real-life Lusitania survivor) herself bravely lives out shipwreck and rescue. Avis's mildly eventful shipboard life is counterbalanced by Holbourn's ferocious adventure story, presented in wordless graphic-novel panels interspersed throughout the main text.