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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Jefferson Public Library | P CREW, G. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
A pig on a passenger liner?
Impossible!
No! No! It's me ...
Maxixe, the music box pig!
Everyone knows the story of the night the great ship Titanic sank. But few know the story of Maxixe, one of the unsung heroes of that night, and how this small musical pig soothed the fears of a lifeboat full of children. Based on true events, this dramatic story by author Gary Crew is told through the charming and compassionate voice of Maxixe, and is brought to life by the stunning artwork of illustrator Bruce Whatley.
Author Notes
Gary Crew was born on September 23, 1947 in Brisbane, Australia. He left school at age 16 to become a cadet Civil Engineering Draftsman. He graduated from the Queensland Institute of Technology and worked in a drawing office for ten years as a design draftsman. He became bored and decided to try teaching. He received a master's degree in literature at Queensland University and became a teacher in 1974. He taught English at various high schools in Brisbane.
Crew began writing fiction in 1985. Because of his teaching background and his own teenage children, he decided to write for children and young adults. He won the Children's Book Council Book of the Year four times - twice for his young adult novels, Strange Objects in 1991 and Angel's Gate in 1993, and twice for his illustrated books, First Light in 1993 and The Watertower in 1994. His other works include The Viewer, Mama's Babies, and The Lost Diamonds of Killiecrankie. He also writes crime and science-fiction short stories for both young adult and adult audiences. His other awards include the National Children's Book Award, the NSW and Victorian Premiers' Awards, and the Ned Kelly Award for crime fiction.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-According to the author's note, this this story is based on a true incident. Edith Rosenbaum, a prominent fashion designer of the day, is sailing on the Titanic, accompanied by a music-box pig given to her by her mother as a good-luck charm. As the pig explains, after the collision with the iceberg, Edith wants to let someone else take her place in the lifeboat, but a sailor, mistaking the pig in her arms for a baby, grabs it and throws it into a lifeboat and Edith follows. Throughout the long cold hours until rescue, Maxixe plays his little tune over and over, buoying the spirits of the children onboard. Crew's text deftly captures the drama of that night, while Whatley's realistic watercolors showcase the grandeur and opulence of the doomed ship as well as the frenetic activity as it was abandoned. The subject of the Titanic is of perennial interest to children, and this well-told slice of life, with its emphasis on a single compassionate act, should prove popular.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Australian author Crew's (The Watertower) dramatization of an episode that actually took place will delight readers who do not know that a small stuffed animal cheered children in one of the Titanic's lifeboats. Edith Rosenbaum, a "famous fashion buyer" headed back from Paris on the great ship, was given a wind-up pig as a "good-luck charm" by her mother. The white perky-eared pig, named Maxixe after the dance melody she plays, narrates the story in a bubbly music-hall voice: "Me... Maxixe, the musical French pig. Oui, oui! Oink, oink!" Whatley (The Teddy Bears' Picnic) supplies scrupulously drafted spreads, with detailed portraits of Rosenbaum and the other passengers, and even a large, cutaway view of the ship. He lavishes attention on every inch of the scenes, from the ship's wallpaper to the type on the pier's signs. After the collision with the iceberg, Edith ends up in a lifeboat with children stunned by the disaster, and thinks of a way to cheer them: "Can you still play your song?," she asks her good-luck charm. "Oui, oui! It's me, Maxixe. Of course I can play!" Aboard a rescue ship at last, the children cry, "Maxixe, you are a hero!" While the backstory of the loss of the ship may overwhelm especially sensitive readers, families and classrooms familiar with the Titanic's story will be thrilled to find a book that tells the tale from a childlike perspective. Ages 5-up. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Edith Rosenbaum brings a pig-shaped music box aboard the Titanic. On the night of the boat's sinking, she refuses to get in a lifeboat until a sailor mistakes her bundle (the pig) for a baby and throws it into a boat full of children. Rosenbaum jumps in and distracts them with the pig's music. Affecting illustrations help tell a fresh story from Titanic lore. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Not a living pig, but a musical toy carried on board by a passenger, Maxixe (pronounced "Mash-eesh," though readers are left to look that up for themselves) describes how its simple dance tune helped to keep up the spirits of a lifeboat full of children through that tragic "night to remember." In Whatley's crisply detailed reconstructions, the smiling white piglet seems to glow in its owner's arms as it's carried through Titanic's palatial rooms, past elegantly dressed passengers, and then into a boat crowded with fearful-looking children. Rescue comes at last, and Maxixe's narrative ends amid smiles of relief. Capped by a closing note and a later photo of the pig, and owner Edith Rosenbaum, this, like Daisy Spedden's more detailed Polar the Titanic Bear (1996), lends the historical catastrophe immediacy for younger audiences while downplaying its horrific aspects. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
K-Gr. 2. Who would guess that a music box aboard the ill-fated Titanic 0 would play a role in the rescue of children? Maxixe, a windup musical pig, relates the events beginning when his owner, Miss Edith, a famous fashion buyer, takes him on board as a good-luck charm for her business trip to New York. Miss Edith takes Maxixe everywhere on the ship, and he becomes a favorite with the children. When the disaster occurs, a sailor throws the pig into a lifeboat filled with children, and Miss Edith follows. All through the night, the frightened children play Maxixe's music and sing until a rescue ship arrives. Full- and double-page spreads realistically dramatize the event in appropriately dark hues. An author's note about the real Miss Edith and Maxixe, which still exists in a private collection, notwithstanding, little ones won't have the background to understand the scope of the Titanic 0 disaster. But by turning a mechanical toy into a narrator-hero, Crew provides kids with an intriguing first encounter with the famous ship. --Julie Cummins Copyright 2005 Booklist