This is the first in the Magic Treehouse series that we’ve read (although we have a couple of others floating around here somewhere). I picked this one up today for my son, since he’s become interested in the Titanic. We read it aloud this afternoon – it was a short book, only took maybe 45 minutes to get through.

My son enjoyed it (although it made him feel sad), and I thought it was fine. Not wonderful, but interesting enough. In the story, Jack and Annie (featured in all the MT books, AFAIK) use the treehouse to go to into a book called “The Unsinkable Ship,” not realizing that the title was not accurate. Only too soon did they realize that they were aboard the ill-fated Titanic. Rather than leaving immediately, though, they decided to stay – they knew they couldn’t save the ship, but maybe there was some other way they could help.

One thing the book did do, IMO, was get across the tragic aspects. I was particularly moved by these lines at the end:

“Time might have stopped for the Titanic,” Jack said. “But books and memories keep the Titanic alive, don’t they? It’s a true story, but it’s almost like a myth now.”

“Yeah,” said Annie. “And every time the story’s told, we wish it had a different ending.”

Jack nodded. That was exactly how he felt.

That’s exactly how I feel, too. 7/10