by Bonnie Bader
In 1904, Samantha Parkington was a nine-year-old orphan growing up in New York. Her parents had died in a tragic boating accident when she was five, so she was being raised to be a proper young lady by her wealthy and old-fashioned grandmother, Grandmary. When she was ten, Samantha moved in with her uncle Gard and aunt Cornelia. She loved her aunt and uncle, but she always longed for a larger family with sisters and brothers.
As Samantha’s family was changing, America—and the world—was changing, too. People were inventing new and improved machines to do things faster and better. Samantha rode through the city streets in Uncle Gard’s brand-new automobile. She sailed across the Atlantic Ocean with Grandmary on the luxury ship Queen Caroline. She lived in a home with modern devices, such as a telephone and electric lights.
But not everyone lived a life of luxury. Samantha learned this from her best friend, Nellie O’Malley. Nellie and her two younger sisters, Bridget and Jenny, had come from Ireland with their parents for a better life in America. After their parents died of influenza, Nellie and her sisters lived in an orphanage. Samantha was overjoyed when Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia decided to adopt Nellie, Bridget, and Jenny. Now the girls could all live together as sisters to Samantha! When Gard and Cornelia’s son, William, was born, Samantha finally had the large family she’d always wanted.
In 1912, when Samantha was a teenager, the world watched as the world’s largest ship, Titanic, set out to make a trip across the Atlantic Ocean. In the middle of the ocean crossing, tragedy struck. For Samantha, the tragedy was personal, because she had family members on board! For days, Samantha waited for news of their fate, praying that another accident wouldn’t tear apart her family.
Although Samantha is a fictional character, her story will help you imagine what it was like to live through the Titanic disaster.
This morning when I come down to breakfast, I see the front page of the New York News. Suddenly, I can’t breathe. The headline screams “TITANIC SINKS!” My heart freezes. My best friend Nellie, Aunt Cornelia, and little William are on Titanic! They’re sailing home from Ireland. I try to read the words in the newspaper, but they are a blur. All I can think about is Nellie, William, and Cornelia—are they safe? I know I won’t stop worrying until I hear from them.
There’s a knock on the door. It’s Bridget and Jenny. They’re here with me at the New York Academy for Young Ladies, and they’ve just learned about Titanic. We fall into one another’s arms and cling together.
We decide to go home to be with Uncle Gard. He needs us—and we need him. Bridget and Jenny hurry back to their rooms to pack a bag. I put a clean dress and a petticoat into my suitcase. Every time the doorbell rings downstairs, I jump and listen, hoping I’ll hear the maid’s footsteps on the stairs and her soft knock telling me there’s a telegram from Cornelia. But there’s no word yet.
Nellie was so excited for this journey. She hadn’t seen Ireland since she left there so many years ago with her parents and sisters. She couldn’t wait to go back and show Cornelia and William the country where she was born. They’d been having a lovely time. Her letters were full of descriptions of the beautiful green hills and giant cliffs with the ocean crashing below. Now they’re somewhere in the middle of the ocean. I swallow the lump in my throat when I think about how scared they must have been when the ship went down.
I keep hearing Grandmary’s voice in my head. She hadn’t approved of the fuss over the great ship Titanic. I remember her telling Cornelia, “Faster doesn’t always mean better, my dear.” I can see her clearly, sitting very straight before the fire with her teacup in her hand, shaking her head. Cornelia sat there, listening respectfully, but giving Nellie and me the tiniest of smiles on the side. We all thought sailing on Titanic sounded like a wonderful adventure.
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Special thanks to Raphael Rogers
Photos ©: back cover: Library of Congress; Chapter 1: Map by Michael Siegal © Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; The New York Public Library; Chapter 2: Library of Congress; Chapter 3: Library of Congress; Chapter 4: Library of Congress; Chapter 5: Library of Congress; Schomburg Center, NYPL/Art Resource, NY; Chapter 6: The New York Public Library/Art Resource, NY, Library of Congress; Chapter 7: Stan Rohrer/Alamy Images, Schomburg Center, NYPL/Art Resource, NY; Chapter 8: Library of Congress; Map, Areas of Freedom and Slavery in 1854: Bettmann/Getty Images
Book design by Jessica Meltzer, Suzanne LaGasa, and Charice Silverman
Photo research by Amla Sanghvi
© 2018 American Girl. All American Girl marks, Addy™, Addy Walker™, Samantha™, and Samantha Parkington™ are trademarks of American Girl. Used under license by Scholastic Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Number: 2017048126
First printing 2018
e-ISBN 978-1-338-15225-8
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