True Stories of Survival at Sea

True stories of survival? Yes, please. In a graphic-novel style? Absolutely. For kids? If I must.

I grabbed this little educational tool from the kids’ section in the library while my daughter attended a Wings of Fire event (a series I haven’t yet tested but probably should, seeing how infatuated she’s becoming with it). It’s been a long while since I perused the children’s shelves of any library but my own, but with this book I just couldn’t resist.

The seven chapters in this Graphic Library book capture seven accounts of survival at sea, some you’ve heard of and some you probably haven’t. Three of the more famous tales include that of Richard Phillips and the ship captured by Somali pirates, a story immortalized in the Tom Hanks film, Captain Philips. There’s also the story of Jose Salvador, the Mexican fisherman who supposedly survived 13 months at sea yet whose story invites skepticism. Then there’s the story of Steven Callahan, whose survival in a dinghy at sea was captured in the fantastic book, Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea.

The authors fit this last account into just 4 pages with 17 graphic blocks, an encapsulation that’s hard to pull off! Children reading this book only get the tiniest taste of these epic accounts in what’s essentially a summary of an abridgment of seven massive tales. I don’t think they’re given enough even to whet their appetites but are instead provided enough to let them walk away from a minute of reading thinking that, since they already know the ending, there’s no point in researching further. I may be wrong. I no longer think like a child, but that’s how I think I’d have responded back in the day.

The four stories that might be lesser known include that of the five-member Robertson family, whose yacht was capsized by killer whales and so they and a hitchhiker had to survive in a dinghy and a raft—a story which sounds like the makings of box-office thriller. There’s also Poon Lim who survived an attack in WWII, Bob Kidd who jumped what he thought was a sinking ship in Alaska, and Hiromitsu Shinkawa who was taken to sea on flotsam following the Japanese tsunami.

All told, this book captures some fantastic stories, but again I fear that kid readers might not search out these stories themselves, discovering the secrets of rescue as quickly as they do here. What I love most about these survival stories is the ingenuity required for the survivors to make it another day, and then of course the situations of their rescue. Knowing the end from the beginning…just not my cup of tea.

I loved Pat Kinsella’s illustrations in this book, the action of the water being a constant character. I see like 7 total color tones in these illustrations (black, dark blue, light blue, dark grey, light grey, yellowish-green, and white) which offer a coldness to these deadly situations and a simplicity which separates it from your average comic book. I don’t know anything about the other books in the Graphic Library series, but if they’re as cleanly drawn as this, I’d be a fan.

©2023 E.T.