Spirit of Endurance

by Jennifer Armstrong & William Maughn

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This distillation of Armstrong's Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World into picture book format masterfully foreshortens the key events of Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated expedition aboard the Endurance to Antarctica. Trapped in pack ice in January 1915, Shackleton and his crew survived for nearly a year in the frozen polar wasteland, then traveled 100 miles by open lifeboat to an uninhabited islet. Shackleton and a handpicked team sailed a further 800 miles "across the stormiest ocean in the world, facing 100-foot waves, bitter temperatures, and hurricane-force winds," then trekked across the uncharted mountains and glaciers of South Georgia Island to a whaling station. After several attempts, Shackleton took a Chilean steamer back to the islet and saved every member of his crew. Although the opening is a bit abrupt, Armstrong's account of these astonishing feats of fortitude ripples with drama. Only those who have read her longer version of the events will miss the copious quotes that capture the voices of the men and the colorful anecdotes (e.g., Hussey's banjo serenades) she brings so vividly to life in Shipwreck. The book's oversize format hints at the scope of Shackleton's larger-than-life adventure and provides a generous frame for an ample supply of maps, original photographs (including the famous shot of the ice-bound Endurance, her hull and rigging covered with a ghostly white frost) and Maughan's panoramic, wide-view paintings. The paintings cannot rival the intrinsic fascination of the photographs, but they are atmospheric and imposingly scaled. Their imaginations stirred, many readers will want to tackle her earlier volume for more of the story. Ages 8-10. (Sept.)
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School Library Journal :
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Gr 4-6-Written for a younger audience than Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World (Crown, 1998), this book takes readers into the Antarctic ice pack with Ernest Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance. The slender, oversized format is enhanced by numerous black-and-white and sepia-toned photos taken on that ill-fated expedition, a map, plans of the Endurance, and a number of dramatic paintings. The robust prose is geared to the needs of the intended audience and is often superimposed on Maughan's large illustrations. This attractive, colorful work is comparable in reading level to K. M. Kostyal's powerful Trial by Ice (National Geographic, 1999), and presents a good picture of human survival under almost unimaginable conditions.-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Review
: Booklist :
From Booklist, September 15, 2000, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Gr. 4-8. With several more detailed books about Shackleton's Imperial Transatlantic Expedition available (including Armstrong's own 1998 Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World), the question is do we really need another? If the text for this one hadn't been so clear, the answer would have been no. But this coffee-table size book provides an excellent outline of the extraordinary expedition, even injecting some anecdotal material along the way that will whet appetites for more about one of history's great survival stories. William Maughan's large paintings, both dramatic and impressive, will show up well in a small-group situation, but it's Frank Hurley's photos, taken during the expedition (several of which are also included here--many more are in Armstrong's other book), that are, in the end, the most fascinating.
¾: Stephanie Zvirin.
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