The Bravest Man in the World

From master storyteller Patricia Polacco comes the tragic and beautiful story inspired by Wallace Hartley—the musician who played with his band to calm the passengers of the Titanic as the ship sank.

One afternoon, Jonathan Harker Weeks didn’t feel like practicing the piano. So his grandfather decided to tell him a story to show how much of an impact music can have. When he was a child growing up poor in Ireland, his mother made sure he learned to play the fiddle, despite their challenges.

A...