The Endurance: Shackleton's Perilous Expedition in Antarctica

by Meredith Hooper, M.P. Robertson

This true adventure tale of courage and survival tracks the dangerous expedition to Antarctica led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, featuring 40 full–color illustrations. 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.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

Meredith Hooper uses the storybook form in Who Built the Pyramid? to make the latest research accessible for a young audience. Meredith Hooper is an historian by training and the author of many books, ranging in subject from Antarctica to aviation, from the history of water to the history of inventions.
Hooper, born in 1939, graduated in history from the University of Adelaide, then studied imperial history at Oxford.

Reviews

[Terry Maguire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hooper & Robertson's retelling of Shackleton's ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition is the perfect picture book to use to introduce young persons to one of the greatest survival stories & feats of navigation of the past century. The book opens in medias res with Shackleton's discovery of stowaway Percy Blackborrow- immediately drawing the reader in and showing how smoothly Shackleton dealt with unexpected circumstances. Hooper chose key moments from the Endurance story to describe & the illustrations are beautiful. The map showing The Endurance's journey (& James Caird's) on the inside cover provides just enough detail. I am a self-avowed Shackleton-phile and had been looking for just the right book (needed to be accurate, too) to introduce my children to this story- and Hooper's book was just right. A viewing of Nat Geo's Survival: The Shackleton Story (produced 2014 & available on Youtube- only 26 min long) which is composed almost entirely of Frank Hurley's gorgeous film & stills, interspersed with current interviews- makes a perfect companion to this book when introducing young people to this story. The shooting of the dogs was dealt with honestly but without excessive detail.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting true story of Shackleton's expedition to the South Pole. Marvelous watercolors on every page bring life to the amazing true story of shipwreck and rescue.
Ages 5-10. The 3rd and 4th graders will read it themselves; the younger ones will enjoy the pictures while listening.

[Conall O'Toole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations that help to give a sense of adventure

[Mary Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

INCREDIBLE JOURNEY. WELL WRITTEN.

[Jeimy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book to introduce children to Shackleton's voyage to Antarctica.