SHIP

Two narratives—one set in the 20th century, the other early in the 16th—tell the story of the Spanish caravel Magdalena, built to explore the Indies, that foundered and sank off the coast of South America; and of the marine archaeologists who uncover its remains and reconstruct the tragedy. Though both narratives are fictional, they're firmly based on recent research, as is the careful description of how the ship was built and outfitted. As in his earlier books, Macaulay's gifts as a storyteller make this more than a description of shipbuilding and marine exploration; but, here, the drawings provide fewer details and insights, partly because the use of color in the 16th-century narrative tends to obscure, not highlight, details; the muted palette used for the historical story, and the painterly style of the b&w illustrations depicting the present, have a somber feel. Less vivid and narrower in scope than much of Macaulay's work, then, but still engaging. (Nonfiction. 10+)