Happiness is...a good book!

I’m still working on sorting through some photos for you all but wanted to give you a little something in the interim. So, here are a few books I’ve read recently on Antarctica, the southern explorers and of course, penguins to tide you over. Enjoy!

The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition
Author: Caroline Alexander
Pages: 211
Age Range: Adult
Published: 1998
Genre: Non-fiction, Biography/History
Cover Score: ****
Overall Score: ****
Rating: PG (some language, violence, peril, intense situations)

This is a brief recounting of Shackleton’s 1914 expedition to cross the Antarctic continent.  Hampered by pack ice and foul weather the men are forced to abandon ship before even making it to the mainland. They spend months camped on the ice next to their ship before it is finally crushed and they make their way across the Weddell Sea to Elephant Island in small, open wooden boats. There the group is separated, the majority of the men making camp underneath the overturned boats while Shackelton leads a small party in the last boat north to South Georgia in search of help from the whaling community there.  The ordeal lasts nearly 2 years but thanks to the men’s ingenuity and fighting spirits in conjunction with Shackelton’s powerful leadership skills they all survive.

When this book was published it was the first to draw from several previously unpublished sources and to present the stunning black and white photos of expedition member Frank Hurley. That the photos survived is miraculous but they are truly works of art that capture the stark beauty (and brutality) of the area and showcase the conditions the men lived in and survived. 

I’ve read several books on Shackelton now and I think this, so far, is my favorite.  There are quotes from journal entries and diaries of several of the men bringing a personal aspect and balance to the account but Alexander also pulls from interviews, books and sources published after the fact. It’s not comprehensive but gives you a great broad look at the harshness of the journey, the personalities of the men and their extraordinary story of survival and endurance. Highly recommended!

Race to the Pole: Tragedy, Heroism, and Scott’s Antarctic Quest
Author: Sir Ranulph Fiennes
Pages: 480
Age Range: Adult
Published: 2005
Genre: Non-fiction, Biography/History
Cover Score: ***
Overall Score: ****
Rating: PG-13 (some language, violence, peril, intense situations)

In 1911, Captain Robert Scott and his competitor Roald Amundsen set out to conquer the unconquerable.  Through the workings of fate, good timing and some would say, deceit, Amundsen and his team were victorious in reaching the South Pole first while Scott’s team suffered every setback imaginable and eventually met with disaster.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes is a renowned modern-day explorer with his own experiences at the pole as well as the benefit of years of research and hindsight which give him a unique view of the events of 1911. His focus is on Scott’s tragedy, what happened and what went wrong, but he gives the reader a framework of the events of Amundsen’s expedition for comparison and counters with some of his own experiences to help show that Scott wasn’t as incompetent as history has often made him out to be. It was an interesting aspect that none of the other books I’ve read have offered giving a slightly different perspective and showing how amazing the early explorers really were. When you compare an expedition of today all decked out in GoreTex and the latest scientific equipment and still suffering from frostbite and exposure with the accomplishments of the early explorers dressed in layers of wool and animal skins you gain a whole new level of respect for what they did and went through.

Most of what I’ve read so far has been focusing on Shackelton’s expedition so this was a relatively new area for me but it was also kind of hard to read because I already knew the outcome. There has been a lot of speculation about what went wrong and why Scott and his men died. While we have Scott’s own words (I dare you to read them without tearing up) there still are missing pieces in the mystery of why they stopped just short of their goal and what actually killed them. It continues to be a hot-button topic among historians (as you will note if you read this book, the author spends his entire last chapter ragging on all previous writers of Scott’s story—my only gripe with the book) and provides fodder for Antarctic gossipers. We may never know the truth but that doesn’t make their experiences less tragic or heroic in their own right. It’s an important story and this is a well-told version.  Highly recommended.

Penguin
Author: Polly Dunbar
Pages: 40
Age Range: 3+
Published: 2007
Genre: Picture Book
Cover Score: ***
Overall Score: ****
Rating: PG (some scary images)

Ben’s new penguin is cute but doesn’t say much.  He tries everything he can think of to get the penguin to talk but to no avail. Finally, frustrated, he yells and startles a passing lion (whom he’d previously tried to feed his penguin to) who gobbles Ben up.  Well, the penguin isn’t having any of that and bites him on the nose. Ben returns and all is well again when the penguin launches into a Technicolor pictorial outburst recounting all of their adventures together and cementing their friendship.

This is such a simple, silly story. The words are very minimal and Dunbar’s equally minimal illustrations shine in vivid hues against a white background. It’s perfect for predicting what might happen next or allowing the child to re-tell the story in his own words. Adults will appreciate the humor as well!

A Penguin Story
Author: Antoinette Portis
Pages: 40
Age Range: 3+
Published: 2008
Genre: Picture Book
Cover Score: ****
Overall Score: *****
Rating: G (nothing offensive)

Edna the penguin knows a world of only 3 colors; white, black and blue.  But she knows there must be more out there than that and she takes off with a few of her friends to find it. After sliding over ice and tumbling down a hill she stumbles into a research camp filled with orange! Orange tents, orange-coated humans, orange planes; it’s amazing! After a brief foray with the researchers she and her friends (toting a bright orange glove as a souvenir) return home feeling enriched and enlightened while Edna wonders what else there could be.

Again, this is a simple story that will delight even the youngest of readers yet not bore the adults in their lives. The illustrations are perfection; soft graphics highlighting the basic hues and exuding character and emotion in every sketch. There are hints of what is to come (a tiny orange plane flying in the distant sky and on the last page a little green boat on the horizon) for those more astute observers, and when the new colors are introduced you feel the excitement of discovery as much as Edna does. The orange shoots from her skin like lightning bolts and sets her imagination reeling, the perfect image of wonder and delight. I’m a huge fan of Portis’ Not a Box and Not a Stick but this is by far my favorite of her works. Highly recommended!

Lost and Found
Author: Oliver Jeffers
Pages: 32
Age Range: 3+
Published: 2005
Genre: Picture Book
Cover Score: *****
Overall Score: *****
Rating: G (nothing offensive)

A small boy finds a penguin at his door one day and sets off to help him find his way back home.  When they reach a likely iceberg the boy deposits the penguin on it and sets off again, alone, in his overturned umbrella only to realize that he misses his new friend and the stories they told together.  Could it be that he wasn’t actually lost after all, but lonely?  

The soft, stylized watercolor illustrations are my favorite part of this sweet little book. For some reason I’m drawn to the unrealistic boy with his square body, moon face and stick legs where I usually prefer a bit more traditionalism. And really, who could pass up that darling little penguin? They just melt my heart. There are hints of redemption, forgiveness, home and connection in this tiny tale of friendship that will appeal to a wide audience. Highly recommended.

Hopefully you are surviving the winter that seems to have finally struck most areas of the world this week. Curl up with a good book (perhaps one of the above mentioned?), indulge in a steaming cup of hot cocoa and recoup for the week to come. I know that's what I would do, if I weren't working!  :)