Review of the I survived series

I Survived is a book series written by Lauren Tarshis. Each book in this series features a different historical event following the perspective of a child protagonist who is usually 8-12 years old.

I discovered I Survived in elementary school when my friend recommended it to me. Each book had a captivating story that was hard to put down. Not only was it entertaining, but it also provided an educational experience about historical events that I probably wouldn't have known much about before reading these books.

What I did and didn't like about the series

    Something I liked about these books were the amount of detail they each had. The high level of descriptions in the books made it easier to imagine and even picture yourself in the position of the main character. For example, in the book, I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005, an example of the great detail can be seen on page 5, "Wind howled around him. Rain hammered down. And all Barry could see was water. Swirling, foaming, rushing water. The water had washed away his whole neighborhood. Pieces of it floated by. In the dirty gray light, Barry saw jagged hunks of wood, shattered glass, a twisted bicycle, a refrigerator, a stuffed penguin, a mattress covered with a pink blanket." 

    I also liked the pace that the overall story had. I felt that it was just the right pacing, not too slow that everything gets dragged out, but not too fast that there's not much description or not much of a lead up to the climax.

    I had mixed feelings about the structure of these books. They each started off with an engaging hook, providing the readers with a glimpse into the intense, action full moments where the major event is in progress. Then, the next chapter has a shift back in time to before the disaster took place. This creates a feeling of suspense. I remember when I read the first chapter of some of these books, I would get really hooked into the moment it was describing, but then it would leave off on a cliffhanger and completely change directions in the storyline, which would be annoying, but also got me really interested to keep reading. So, it was kind of annoying but also compelling at the same time. 

Most memorable

    I read almost the entire I Survived series in elementary school, but some were more memorable to me than others. One of the most memorable books I read was I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916. Even though I read this book years ago, I still remember what happened in it. 

    I think, I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916, was especially memorable for me because I was pretty scared of sharks, so it was more connected with me. When I read this book, I learned that people thought that sharks were completely harmless and would never attack a human. For example, on page 5 of I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916, they say, "a shark simply will not attack a human. That cherry pie over there is more likely to attack you than a shark is.” Then throughout the book, it talked about how many shark attacks suddenly started happening along the Jersey shore which I later learned was the start of the widespread fear of sharks. I thought it was very interesting that a sudden string of shark incidents started happening all in the span of about 2 weeks and from these attacks, the common fear of sharks was born. 

Even though this series was intended for younger readers, if you are looking for a simple, easy to understand book to read, and want to learn more about an event in history in a unique way, then you should try the I survived series. 

-Jehan