Highly appealing narrative nonfiction for anyone who loves true adventure.
A gripping account of a disastrous 1879 American expedition to find the North Pole.
In 1879, Lt. Cmdr. George De Long and his officers and crew set off from San Francisco in the USS Jeannette, funded by the New York Herald newspaper and backed by the U.S. Navy. Finding the pole, “the world’s greatest mystery,” so captured the public’s imagination that more than 1,200 men applied for the 24 positions as sailors. Two Yup’ik crew members joined in Alaska. Unfortunately, the available maps were highly inaccurate, as was a renowned expert’s assertion that a warm ocean current led to the pole. Instead, once north of Siberia, the ship found itself stranded in ice for more than a year and then crushed by it. The men, separated into three groups, tried desperately to reach Siberian settlements. De Long insisted on preserving his and others’ writings, which provide the remarkable details that bring this story to life. The authors skillfully incorporate quotes from journals, letters, and official documents. Vivid language and narrative techniques such as cliffhangers maximize the drama, while well-chosen anecdotes convey the personalities. Archival, contemporaneous illustrations, maps, and mostly small photographs add an appropriately old-fashioned look.
Highly appealing narrative nonfiction for anyone who loves true adventure. (authors’ note, bibliography, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 11-15)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62979-428-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
An introduction to ancient Egypt and the Pharaohs buried in the Valley of the Kings. The authors begin with how archaeologist Howard Carter found the tomb of King Tut, then move back 3,000 years to the time of Thutmosis I, who built the first tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Finally they describe the building of the tomb of a later Pharaoh, Ramses II. The backward-forward narration is not always easy to follow, and the authors attribute emotions to the Pharaohs without citation. For example, “Thutmosis III was furious [with Hatshepsut]. He was especially annoyed that she planned to be buried in KV 20, the tomb of her father.” Since both these people lived 3,500 years ago, speculation on who was furious or annoyed should be used with extreme caution. And the tangled intrigue of Egyptian royalty is not easily sorted out in so brief a work. Throughout, though, there are spectacular photographs of ancient Egyptian artifacts, monuments, tomb paintings, jewels, and death masks that will appeal to young viewers. The photographs of the exposed mummies of Ramses II, King Tut, and Seti I are compelling. More useful for the hauntingly beautiful photos than the text. (brief bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7922-7223-4
Page Count: 64
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bial (A Handful of Dirt, p. 299, etc.) conjures up ghostly images of the Wild West with atmospheric photos of weathered clapboard and a tally of evocative names: Tombstone, Deadwood, Goldfield, Progress, Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickock, the OK Corral. Tracing the life cycle of the estimated 30,000 ghost towns (nearly 1300 in Utah alone), he captures some echo of their bustling, rough-and-tumble past with passages from contemporary observers like Mark Twain: “If a man wanted a fight on his hands without any annoying delay, all he had to do was appear in public in a white shirt or stove-pipe hat, and he would be accommodated.” Among shots of run-down mining works, dusty, deserted streets, and dark eaves silhouetted against evening skies, Bial intersperses 19th-century photos and prints for contrast, plus an occasional portrait of a grizzled modern resident. He suggests another sort of resident too: “At night that plaintive hoo-hoo may be an owl nesting in a nearby saguaro cactus—or the moaning of a restless ghost up in the graveyard.” Children seeking a sense of this partly mythic time and place in American history, or just a delicious shiver, will linger over his tribute. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-618-06557-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
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