About Peggy
Author of the award-winning novel, The Stars in April, Peggy Wirgau loves bringing history to life for readers. Peggy has written for Appleseeds, Insight, Learning Through History, and contributed to Why? Titanic Moments by Yvonne Lehman. Her blog features in-depth Titanic stories, and her followers include descendants of the ship’s real-life victims and survivors.
A graduate of Michigan State University and George Mason University, Peggy is an active member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Historical Novel Society, and Great Lakes Titanic Connection. She loves to travel, especially to New York City and Mackinac Island, Michigan, where she explores historical sites. A Michigan native, Peggy now spends time between Florida and Colorado with her growing family.
The Stars In April
The year is 1912. When doctors in India are unable to treat her baby brother’s illness, Ruth’s missionary parents decide there is one solution: move her mother and the children across the world—to Michigan. But India is the only home Ruth knows. In a matter of days, she must leave Papa and all she loves behind, abandon her dream of one day playing violin in the Calcutta Orchestra, and embark on a rollicking, four-week journey across the Arabian and Mediterranean Seas, followed by the voyage to New York aboard the luxurious, ill-fated RMS Titanic. Ruth’s story is one of courage and self-sacrifice as she earns her sea legs and faces the unknown, culminating in a desperate, tragic night she will never forget. Based on the True Story of 12-year-old, Titanic Survivor, Ruth Becker
Curriculum Guide
Free Curriculum Guide includes classroom materials and lesson plan ideas for teaching middle grade historical fiction, The Stars in April, based on the true story of teen Titanic survivor Ruth Becker. Supplements the nonfiction backmatter found in the book, which include glossary of Edwardian terms, discussion questions, and photographs and information about the people in the story.
