THE STORY OF THE SAMSON

In the house Grandpa built on a bluff above the sea, Sam listens once again to the story of his grandpa’s sailing days on the Samson, a Norwegian seal-trapping ship with quite a history. Seemingly the Forrest Gump of ships, the Samson was in the same waters as the Titanic when it sank, but mistook distress signals for tricks played by customs ships. The Samson also rescued Shackleton’s men in Antarctica, took Admiral Richard E. Byrd on his explorations of the polar region, became an exhibit at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair and ran aground, burned and sank off the coast of Nova Scotia. Duble’s purposefully heartwarming story is an uneasy mix of the grandfather’s frame narration and stories within his story, each with a bit of plot and dialogue independent of Grandpa’s voice. The sepia tones of Grandpa’s scrapbook alternate with action scenes in full-color oil illustrations; photographs of the famous vessel round out the volume. An interesting tale, but fact and fiction become unfortunately blurred. (timeline, author’s note, bibliography, websites) (Informational picture book. 7-10)