Exploring the Bismarck - Softcover

Grade 3-8-- An excellent series entry that vividly recounts the history of the German battleship, Bismarck , from its construction to its sinking, and finally, its rediscovery 50 years later. As he did in The Wreck of the Isis (1990), Ballard intersperses his present-day account with an imaginative section that tells the story of the Bismarck' s demise from the eyewitness point of view of three young German soldiers. The easy-to-read text is extremely well illustrated. Important historical photographs are combined with bright, clear, full-color contemporary shots that show the research ship and Argo, the same underwater vehicle that was used in Exploring the Titanic ( 1988, both Scholastic). Well-executed drawings and diagrams clarify important concepts. One diagram, for example, uses apt comparisons to show how very deep the Bismarck lies beneath the ocean surface. An exciting title for report writers, browsers, and adventure lovers. --Don Reaber, Meadowdale High School, Lynnwood, WA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The author's Discovery of the Bismarck in a young readers' version, featuring plenty of well-chosen color photos and dramatic military paintings plus a view of the Nazi battleship's brief career through the eyes of four crew members. Ballard has searched out other wrecks with his remote-control deep-sea camera sled, most notably the Titanic; here, he once again re-creates the weary hours watching the video screen, capped by the thrill of discovery as a vague undersea shadow suddenly takes a shape not found in nature. A fine account, enhanced both by the striking illustrations and by a description of how the survivors were rescued and treated by their British captors. Glossary; chronology; brief bibliography. (Nonfiction. 10-13) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.