Book Description

Intrigued by the mysterious, vast continent at the bottom of the world, Sir Ernest Shackleton fearlessly led 27 men to explore Antarctica--but on their way to its shore, their ship Endurance was crushed by the relentless ice! The shipwrecked team braved many months stranded on an ice floe (through an Antarctic winter), facing extreme hunger, frostbite, illness, and exhaustion. But through Shackleton's heroic effort to sail in an open wooden lifeboat to the nearest inhabited land--hundreds of miles away through the treacherous ocean--everyone was eventually rescued and this amazing true story began to be told again and again.

Accompanying this tale for young readers are lovely watercolor paintings that capture the beauty of the Antarctic landscape and the team's heroic determination to survive. Young readers and adults alike will also be fascinated by the maps, chronology, and further background this book provides on one of history's most extraordinary expeditions. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A true tale of exploration, survival, and rescue
Superbly, beautifully illustrated through truly exceptional watercolor paintings by M.P. Robertson, Meredith Hooper's The Endurance is the true story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition across Antarctica. Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven men fought their way through some of the most extreme conditions and hardships imaginable in a near legendary feat of exploration. This true tale of exploration, survival, and rescue will thrill young readers and is a very highly recommended addition to all school and community library collections. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1804, Lewis and Clark and a small band of adventurers calling themselves the Corps of Discovery set off on a great journey into the unknown. Along the way they met a young Shoshone woman who would make an invaluable contribution to the expedition. With a baby strapped on her back, Sacagawea negotiated with native peoples, helped the expedition survive when food was scarce, and, ultimately, contributed to leading this small band of intruders on a trip lasting more than two years through the Indian land to the Pacific Ocean. One summer, Peter Lourie and his family traveled in the footsteps of Sacagawea to learn about her from the native peoples who now live along her trail. As the Louries traveled the historic route, they grew closer to American history and to understanding the woman who contributed so much to the early expansion of the United States. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Great read for parents and kids
Not only is Peter Lourie a talented writer, but now, after reading On the Trail of Sacagawea, my kids think that his family is much more exciting than ours!Or, to put it another way, this book has inspired us to think more creatively about the kinds of trips we'll be planning in the future.Why go to Disneyworld when we could be out exploring the real world? My entire family thoroughly enjoyed this book.Reading about Sacagawea's world some 200 years ago, and the present day journey shared by the Lourie family, gave us all something to think about and to discuss.The book provides a valuable glimpse into our history while at the same time it illustrates how really rewarding family experiences can be. I recommend this book to every parent who is eager to have something of substance to talk about with his or her child, and who would like to enourage reading and a sense of wonder and excitement about the world we live in.

Another masterpiece!
...Reading Mr. Lourie's books truly brings history to life, and adds present day perspective to the tales they've read in their social studies books.In this book particularly, my children were able to relate to the Lourie's children, on a family vacation, traveling such an historic route.How lucky those children are to have a father who can bring to life the stories of Sacagawea, and how lucky are we that he writes it all down for us to share!My young neighbor brought the book to school and her teacher used it as she taught about Sacagawea.Our whole family is anxious to read about Mr. Lourie's next journey!!

An excellent book for kids!
My two daughters loved seeing the author's children included in this adventure.Lourie's photographs are amazing.They depict the wild terrain, the rivers and the mountains, that Sacagawea covered with Lewis and Clark in 1805-1806 on their way to the Pacific.From this book, I learned details about the expedition I had not known before.It's a great introduction to Sacagawea and the monumental feat accomplished by the Corps of Discovery. After reading ON THE TRAIL OF SACAGAWEA, I will keep my eyes out for other books by author Peter Lourie. ... Read more

Book Description

One morning in April 1952, Danish workmen digging in a peat bog near the town of Grauballe made an astonishing discovery: the body of a man preserved in the bog, his face Xattened by the weight of the peat and his skin as brown as the earth in which he lay. Who was this man, and how had he come to be there? With striking photographs and engaging text, James M. Deem tells the story of Grauballe Man and other bog bodies discovered in European peat bogs. He explains who they were, how they lived and died, and how their peat graves acted to preserve their bodies so well. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

The Mummy Review!!!
People go to a place were they think the mummies are baried and
they find some amazing mummies,like the girl who was sacraficed and had her head was shaved on one side and this one guy was hanged and was well proserved that you could see his face as it was when he died.

The Mummy Review!!!
People go to a place were they think the mummies are baried and
they find some amazing mummies,like the girl who was sacraficed and had her head was shaved on one side and this one guy was hanged and was well proserved that you could see his face as it was when he died.

yuck!
This book is very interesting.It has [lots of descriptionsabout people -just what I needed to keep my attention.My favorite part [are allthe descriptions]. This book is interesting and you won't get it from your parents because they will be majorly grossed out... hopefully not YOU!I recommend this book to kids who don't like to read much because this one will keep you awake for weeks.

Bringing bog bodies back to life
A mummified corpse and eerie bog haunt the front cover of this non-fiction treasure, beckoning readers inside to discover what "Bodies from theBog" are all about. Deem chose his subject wisely, for children areknown for their fascination with the unknown, in this case, the mysteriousworld of people who lived up to 5,500 years ago. Reporting on naturalmummies and other artifacts that have been discovered in the bogs ofGermany, Denmark, England, Ireland, and the Netherlands, Deem explores thescientific processes that go into researching and preserving the bodies,also describing how peat acts as a natural "mummifying" agent.Grauballe Man, for instance, discovered in Denmark in 1952, disclosed whathis final meal had been through the contents of his intestines, the woundscausing his death enabled archeologists to infer that he had been a humansacrifice. Deem's research took him to almost all the museums currentlyexhibiting bog bodies and connected him with Dr. Wijnand Sanden, consideredtoday's premier bog body expert. Deem brings bog bodies back to life withhis engaging and accessible text. Accompanying captivating photographs,though sometimes grotesque, were taken by Deem himself. For example, by twoclose-up photographs of Tollmund Man, Deem writes, "The Tollmund Manhad been hanged. Despite the circumstances of his death, the face of theTollmund Man is still peaceful and at rest." The photographs,including text-enhancing photo-captions, will captivate middle-school-agereaders as well as adults. ... Read more

Book Description

When Thomas Jefferson sent a team of explorers to discover a way to the Pacific Ocean two hundred years ago, the western border of the United States was the Mississippi River. Jefferson dreamed of uncovering the mysteries of the distant lands beyond. In 1803, the president sent a team of thirty men, lead by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, on a monumental, two-and-a-half-year expedition up the Missouri River, across the Rocky Mountains, down the Columbia River to the Pacific, and back home again. Written on an upper elementary school level expressly for adult literacy students and students of English as a second language, Into the Wilderness describes the famous journey that made these men the celebrated heroes they are today. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Excellent and informative.
The informative, but easy and readable style of this book will allow for many people to actually enjoy reading non-fiction about something they might have been required to study. The sections on how physically demanding the trek to Everest is were interesting. Amid all the IMAX films and articles, I'd forgotten what an amazing feat of the human body this is. It's very historical too, and hearing about the forgotten people who came before Sir Edmund Hillary was a treat. Coming from someone who has hiked up Everest himself, it makes the book all the more rewarding and fascinating. The author has been in all of these frozen, dangerous places! Excellent and informative.

Is this really a good climbing intro for kids?
This book does a fair job of providing the standard well-worn yarns from Everest's past. However, should children be getting their introduction to this splendid mountain by someone who has literally built a career out of wrecking other's expeditions by constantly having to get rescued, first on Everest, then on a lesser known Himalayan peak? As other reviewers of Stephen Venables' numerous books have pointed out, it doesn't seem fitting to be rewarding someone who is always messing up on the mountains with yet new book contracts to pound his chest in public. Do we want to teach our kids a climbing ethic of recklessness, poor planning, and bragging? I think mountains, and especially Everest, have better lessons for the young--and climbing greats like Hillary or John Hunt have plenty of good books to serve this purpose.

Everest by Steven Venables
The work depicts many color prints of Mount Everest. It shows the
Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, a View from the Top,
Artifacts for the 1953 Mt. Everest Expedition and a Portrait
of a Tibetan mother and child. There is an interesting
Buddhist monk wearing a yak headdress. The presentation
contains some historical data on Sir George Everest and
pictures of various expedition forces in process of
climbing the famous mountain. This book is a worthy purchase
as a gift for a child or senior citizen. ... Read more

Book Description

Exploring Africa tells of the many people who helped to map this mighty continent. It follows their expeditions across the Sahara and Kalahari deserts, along the valleys of the Congo, Niger, Nile, and Zambezi rivers, through rainforests, over mountains and on vast lakes. You will read about why the explorers set out, how they traveled, hazards they encountered on the way, native people they worked with, and more. Clear maps and superb reconstructions bring these journeys vividly to life. ... Read more

Book Description

This is an illustrated children's biography of 19th-century explorer John Rae, a Scotsman who opened up vast tracts of land in the Canadian Arctic and may have been the true discoverer of the Northwest Passage. He discovered the fate of the failed Franklin Expedition and evidence of cannibalism on the bones he found, but was disgraced by a slanderous campaign against his name, which resulted in a century of subsequent obscurity. Rae was one of the first Europeans to show respect for Inuit customs and to take inspiration from their Arctic survival skills. John Wilson brings this fascinating man and his times to life in an exciting narrative full of survival stories, shipwrecks and scandals. The book is illustrated with sketches, maps and archival photos. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A remarkable and recommended biography
The latest in the outstanding "Stories of Canada" series from Napoleon Publishing, Discovering The Arctic: The Story Of John Rae by John Wilson is an enthralling black-and-white history for young readers detailing the efforts of 19th century explorer John Rae. Black-and-white photographs nicely illustrate this amazing tale of one of the first Europeans to respect Inuit customs and who learned from their survival skills when he found himself dealing with harsh Arctic terrain. Rae's dramatic exploits, terrible findings, and vehement enemies are spoken of in clear terms that bring this remarkable and recommended biography to vivid life. ... Read more

Book Description

Foreword by Mingma Norbu Sherpa

Released in paperback just in time for the 50th anniversary of Hillary’s history-making climb, this exciting photobiography celebrates the extraordinary life of the New Zealand farm boy who in May 1953 became the first person known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. With climbing partner Tenzing Norgay, the iron-willed Hillary crossed deadly icefalls, clawed his way up vertical walls, and persevered through gale-force winds until he finally stood at the top of the world. Along with this gripping adventure, readers follow the explorer’s trek to the South Pole, his quest to find the Abominable Snowman, and his continuing efforts to help the Sherpa people, without whom, Hillary is convinced, he never would have scaled Everest.

Reviews (1)

Worth Reading, even for adults
I brought this book home from the library for my son (9). After he read it, I picked it up and started reading a few of the chapters. It is well written, which I can't always say about books for children. It's also a great story about American exploration. ... Read more