Spirit of Endurance: The True Story of the Shackleton Expedition to the Antarctic

by Jennifer Armstrong

In August 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton set out from England in an attempt to lead the first expedition across the Antarctic continent. What followed was one of the most extraordinary survival stories in history: a ship trapped and then wrecked by ice; an expedition marooned, first on the constantly shifting Antarctic pack, then on a remote, uninhabited island; a daring open boat journey across the world's most violent ocean; a trek over unmapped mountains; and finally an amazing rescue.
Jennifer Armstrong's Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World received widespread praise and won the Orbis Pictus Award. Now she tells the Endurance story for a younger audience, in an oversize format with color paintings re-creating the detail and drama of the expedition's ordeal.

Genres: Nonfiction, Adventure, History, Biography, Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Jennifer Armstrong learned to read and write in Switzerland, in a small school for English speaking children on the shores of Lake Zurich. The school library had no librarian and no catalog – just shelves of interesting books. She selected books on her own, read what she could, and made up the rest. It was perfect. As a result, she made her career choice – to become an author – in first grade. When she and her family returned to the U.S. she discovered that not all children wrote stories and read books, and that not all teachers thought reading real books was important. Nevertheless, she was undaunted. Within a year of leaving college she was a free-lance ghost writer for a popular juvenile book series, and before long published her first trade novel, Steal Away, which won her a Golden Kite Honor for fiction.

More than fifty additional novels and picture books followed, and before long she also tried her hand at nonfiction, winning an Orbis Pictus Award and a Horn Book Honor for her first nonfiction book, Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World. In late 2003 she will travel to the South Pole with the National Science Foundation to do research for a book on ice.

Reviews

[Joseph]

Good and relevant information. I would have loved to read more about Percy Blackborrow, who was an early 1900s/Antarctic voyage version of the fictional Jim Hawkins. The pages in this book were far too large for me to navigate happily.

[Cheryl]

A shocking true life adventure.

[Shelli]

This is the second book we have read about the failed Shackleton expedition to thwart Antarctica in 1914-1916 and it was fantastic. I can’t imagine anyone not being fascinated by what these men endured and their ability to cling to hope where there was little to be found. An amazing true story of survival to share with your students.

[Adam]

Wow! I really liked the brilliance and quality of this giant picture book! So impressive! I would recommend to everyone (except big-time death-haters) and non-fiction freaks! I love big books as read-alouds.

[Shannon]

Spirit of Endurance: The True Story of the Shackleton Expedition to the Antarctic. We revisit the story of Shackleton and his crew in various forms throughout the years. If it's about Shackleton and the Endurance, we're in.

[Charlotte Osborn-bensaada]

Great use of real archival photos and schematics with illustrations. Narrative is very straightforward. Good book to use to discuss leadership.