Trapped in Antarctica!: Nickolas Flux and the Shackleton Expedition

Nickolas Flux

by Nel Yomtov, Mark Simmons

When a spontaneous time leap sends Nickolas Flux back to Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated Endurance Expedition to Antarctica, what's a teenage history buff to do? Try to avoid becoming stranded at the bottom of the world, of course! From the crushing of the Endurance by ice to the heroic lifeboat journey to South Georgia Island, Nick must survive one of the most amazing expeditions of the early 1900s.

Genres: Historical Fiction

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Andrew ✝️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet again: Nikolas Flux has the amazing, yet uncontrollable ability to travel back in time to historically significant events. He's gone back to the Boston tea party, the Salem witch trials, the California gold rush, the battle of the Alamo, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (President), to the attack on Pearl Harbor, and now to the time of the Shackleton Expedition in Antarctica. It's mildly embarrassing, but I've never even heard of the Shackleton Expedition, so this graphic novel's existence at the very least served a purpose. Obviously, since I had never heard of this happening, I too had never even heard of Sir Ernest Shackleton. I did know, vaguely, that there had been attempts by several crews to reach the south pole, but that's it.
Doing the math, this time, Flux was technically gone for 7 months. I give the author and illustrator credit for including that Nikolas would need to find a way to explain his appearance (Flux mentions specifically his hair), but I think he'd also see his brother Chuck and the others on the boat looking at him strangely. "Why do you look like you aged a bit by going to the underpart of this boat?" (I have no idea what it's called; educate me, please, lol) The reason is that there is a good chance that someone who is 15 would look older 7 months on from any given start date. For example, I've met someone who has a 16-year-old son, and his face seems to mature every 6 months. Unless, of course, Yomtov and the other writers, and perhaps the owners, of this series were trying to imply that the aging process pauses on Nick when he time travels, I cannot imagine that he wouldn't have aged.
My only remaining critique is that each of these graphic novels includes a glossary. Why on Earth wasn't 'sextant' one of the words listed with an explanation? I do not know many teenagers or kids (or many adults, for that matter) who would know what a Sextant even is. It's more likely that they've heard of the name Sexton than it is that they know the meaning of the word. It's such a piddly matter, though, despite the nuisance of having to look the word up in a dictionary, that I won't let it affect my rating.
I'll give this one 3 stars.

[Doctor Doom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good way to introduce historical events to [I assume] a younger audience but does not dumb down the information. Stays apolitical thus far [I can't tell which side of the spectrum the writer is on so that is a plus- a neutrality so to speak]. Very refreshing, informative and interesting.

[John L · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a cute way to learn history.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. This was a fun idea and a great way to introduce people to Shackleton. One thing I didn't like though was that the story implied that the expedition was trying to get to the North Pole, when this expedition was actually an attempt at a trans-antarctic crossing. The pole had been reached by Amundsen in 1911, several years before this expedition.