It’s Round Two of icy adventures and today we have upped the Dangerously-Insane scale by about 10,000 notches!
(Okay, Tom Crean definitely was on dangerously-insane adventures, too.
You can find his story and other icy adventures in Tuesday’s post.)
Recently I read three lengthier, middle-grade nonfiction accounts of death-defying, almost-unbelievable expeditions in both the North and South polar regions.
Any one of these would make a fantastic winter read for ages 12-13 and up. This of course includes adult readers.
Fair warning: dogs do die.
I issue this warning because several of my kids would have needed to know this
before plunging into these stories.
Beloved sled dogs were routinely killed off during these very early polar expeditions in order to supply food to remaining dogs and even their human compatriots.
It’s a practice that is thankfully not in use any longer, but you will encounter it in these stories.
Race to the Bottom of the Earth: Surviving Antarctica
written by Rebecca E.F. Barone
published in 2021 by Henry Holt and Company
262 pages
Barone weaves together four adventurers’ epic journeys in this riveting account.
In 1911 Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen vied to become the first ever to reach the South Pole. Scott’s tragic ending and Amundsen’s victorious effort are brought to life vividly here.
A hundred years later, in 2018, two men simultaneously determined to attempt unaided, unsupported solo crossings of Antarctica.
Their arduous journeys are narrated as well, with these four stories leap-frogging throughout the book. Exceptional writing and nail-biting drama kept me fully immersed in these frozen landscapes. Highly recommended. I would definitely have read this aloud with my kids at ages 9 or 10.
Locked in Ice: Nansen’s Daring Quest for the North Pole
written by Peter Lourie
published in 2019 by Christy Ottaviano Books, Henry Holt
316 pages
Equally insane in its jaw-dropping, superhuman saga is the story of Fridtjof Nansen, the Norwegian explorer who conjectured that if he purposely allowed his ship to be frozen into the arctic ice it would gradually drift to the North Pole.
Nansen and his crew set off in 1893 and for the next three years defied everything from blinding blizzards to attacking walruses, near-starvation to plunges into the icy water. They missed their goal of 90° North but came closer than anyone previously, made numerous scientific discoveries, and became mentors for polar explorers like Shackleton in the decades to come.
This book is told in fourteen stages. Honestly, the first two are a teensy bit slow but the action roars ahead as soon as we hit stage three, just about 70 pages in. From then on, I could scarcely stop reading! That anyone could muster through what Nansen and his crewmate Johansen did staggers the mind. Copious added material is provided in an epilogue. Be aware that suicide is mentioned in those supplemental pages.
The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure
written by Martin W. Sandler
published in 2012 by Candlewick Press
163 pages
The motivation for the adventurers in the previous accounts was a thirst to be the first, a zeal to explore the unknown. For the men and women in this account, though, the motivation was entirely altruistic, an arctic rescue attempt against nearly-impossible odds.
In 1897, the arctic ice pack closed in early stranding eight American whale ships and their crews numbering about 300 in the ice near what was then called Point Barrow Station, Alaska. With extremely limited food and fuel, fiercely cold temperatures, and ships being crushed in ice floes, their demise seemed certain.
By orders of President McKinley a rescue team was dispatched, sent on an overland trek of over 1500 miles during the arctic winter. Anyone who knew the terrain and conditions said it was impossible. The enormous goodwill, courage, and stamina of both white and Indigenous Alaskans, however, carried them through this heroic undertaking. It’s a riveting, fascinating account. Interesting to me was the amount of personality clashes that occurred during the explorers’ expeditions, as opposed to the exceptional camaraderie of this endeavor.
I’ll mention two other titles which are in picture-book format but are best for somewhat older readers.
The Lamp, the Ice, and the Boat Called Fish: Based on a True Story
written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, illustrated by Beth Krommes
published in 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company
Krommes’ gorgeous scratchboard art transforms these pages into such beauty as Martin’s lyric prose tells the story of a Canadian ship stranded in the ice in 1913 and the epic efforts of the crew to survive.
Aboard the ship were some Iñupiaq hunters and one Iñupiaq family. Their keen knowledge of the Arctic and of cold weather survival skills played a critical part in the survival of many, and it is their story which is highlighted in these pages.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend reading it together with kids ages 7 and up.
Northwest Passage
text by Stan Rogers and Matt James, art by Matt James
published in 2013 by Groundwood Books
The lyrics to a song by Canadian folk musician Stan Rogers make up one part of the text in this book. The song describes one man’s musings on his drive across Canada as he thinks of the arduous and mostly-tragic attempts by early explorers to find the Northwest Passage, a waterway through the ice and rocky islands from the eastern Arctic Ocean to the Pacific.
James’ bold, atmospheric paintings dominate the pages, his icy, textured blues and inky arctic night skies sweeping us into these dramatic scenes. He also intersperses pages of much denser commentary about the Franklin expedition, one of the most famous attempts at finding the Passage which ended in devastation. A “Gallery of Explorers” is also included with short snapshots of fifteen men or companies who explored these waterways.
I found the information about the Franklin expedition very interesting, grim as it was. Although this is a picture book, James’ denser text is best suited to interested middle-graders ages 13 and up, as well as adults.
If you or your kids crave yet more icy adventures, you can find some fabulous titles on my
People and Places of the Arctic/Antarctic page
including one account of the Steger expedition (Over the Top of the World) in which no dogs die! and several about the Shackleton expedition.
You’ll find lots of tamer icy adventures on my Winter page which is heaped with merry, snowy picture books.
*****
I’ll be back next week with more juicy selections.
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