Caught amid slabs of
ice, the Endurance
groaned and creaked as it was slowly squeezed
tighter and tighter. The vessel had sheltered
twenty-eight men for more than a year; it was only a
matter of time before she broke apart. Far from
home, the only place to go was the frozen Weddell
Sea – a million square miles of ice. On 26 October
1915, there was no guarantee that they would
survive.
In August 1914 two
momentous events happened the same week in England:
Britain declared war on Germany and Sir Ernest
Shackleton and his crew set sail for Antarctica.
This was his third such journey, but this time he
planned to cross 1,800 miles of land by dogsled. It
would be a journey fraught with danger, especially
since the night temperature could drop to -80
degrees and for three and a half months a year there
is no sun. He selected twenty-eight men out of 5,000
to accompany him, including a longtime friend, two
scientists, two doctors, a carpenter, two engineers,
a storekeeper, a cook, an artist, and a
photographer. Aside from the seventy dogs to haul
the sleds, they took with them food, three
lifeboats, film, and supplies. Upon Shackleton’s
return to England, he planned to engage in a
speaking tour and to write of his experience in
order to pay the massive debts he accrued financing
the expedition.
Part of Scholastic’s
Lost series, this book opens with a photograph of Endurance’s crew
and a cast of the characters readers meet in the
story. Olson includes maps, a diagram of the ship,
glossary, author’s note, sources, and end notes.
Interspersed throughout the chapters are captioned
photographs taken by Frank Hurley, the expedition’s
photographer.
The intended audience
for Lost in
the Antarctic is children in grades three
through eight, but some subject matter may not be
appropriate for all readers as it involves the
killing of seals, penguins, and the dogs. Yet this
book is also a tale of how men work together to
endure and survive desperation, isolation, and
extreme conditions. Olson describes this ill-fated
expedition with such vivid intensity that even on a
hot day in Texas, this reader shivers. He pulls no
punches, portraying the hardships endured with
brutal honesty. The inclusion of Hurley’s pictures
adds a realism that words alone cannot portray.
Together they transport readers, young and old
alike, back in time to a place few of us will ever
visit.
Review Copyrighted ©2019 Cindy Vallar
Pirates and
Privateers
