Not having read the original 2006 "Fatal Forecast" this young reader edition is based off of, I can say it is well suited to middle grade and even teens interested in true survival stories. The details of the storm off Georges Bank on November 21, 1980 focuses primarily on two distressed ships, The Fair Wind, and The Sea Fever. However, I would say it's more 65% Ernie Hazard from The Fair Wind, and 35% the crew of The Sea Fever and her sister ship. You can tell from the descriptions that Ernie's harrowing account is more detailed and the backbone of this story. In some ways it feels like it might have been better to be stripped down to just his story, since the doomed crew of The Fair Wind gets minimal description before the ship sinks. There's also a brief note of the legal battles the family of the doomed sailors to legally hold the Weather Service accountable for not repairing a weather-reporting buoy that led to the ships entering the storm with no warning, but the note that the verdict was overturned seems abrupt and a poor ending to the chapter.

Distribution of topics aside, explanation of Ernie's 48 hours of survival are nail biting without being gruesome. You can tell Tougias has a respect and humanity for Ernie's journey that doesn't veer into sentimental. As the captain of The Sea Fever, Peter Brown has less time but the same amount of respect. In the digital copy, we only saw pictures of the seamen at the end of the book with a corresponding quote. I think if the pictures were embedded in the work it would be a better format, but I do think having faces to put with the people involved also enhances the experience of the story.