Nonfiction

Armstrong, Jennifer. 1998. SHIPWRECK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD: THE EXTRAORDINARY TRUE STORY OF SHACKLETON AND THE ENDURANCE. New York: Random House. ISBN: 0375810498.

Jennifer Armstrong catches the frustration, determination and team work with SHIPWRECK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD. The book describes how in 1914 Shackleton and twenty seven men endure an unforgettable adventure across the Antarctic on the Endurance.

The characters/members of the crew brought aboard some exceptional knowledge and expertise. Shackleton was very particular about his crew. He selected from 5,000 interested explorers. Shackleton, an Irishman, was a forty year old and was a “showman with a hunger for polar glory.” Page 5. The Endurance had its crew members, its equipment, dog teams, stores of food for many months, and Mrs. Chippy the tomcat! They set sail in August of 1914 with blessings from Queen Alexandra.

The men worked together as a team. They entertained themselves with games, books and singing. The weather became colder and colder and progress became slower. They had sailed 12,000 miles from London, picked their way for 1,000 miles through the ice floes, and now the Endurance was surrounded by packed ice. They were wet, miserable and running out of food. They resorted to killing seals for meat and blubber for heating purposes. The crew endured five months of despair. The Endurance was consumed by ice and basically broke into many pieces and then sank. They forged ahead to Elephant Island.

The crew members were tired, frostbit and feeling they would never get home to their families.   Nineteen men stayed behind on Elephant Island and Shackleton took five of his men to go for help. The men walked over ice and snow for weeks. They finally reached South Georgia Island exhausted. The men rested for a very short time and then headed back to Elephant Island to rescue the other crew members. It had been four months since the men had been together. It was a joyous reunion amongst the crew. Shackleton was “the boss” and the men trusted him to the very end.

The descriptions of the hardships these men experienced were unbelievable. Armstrong uses rich language to make the reader feel they are right there on the expedition. “This adventure story of survival against all odds in one of the harshest environments on the planet is told in swift stirring prose by Armstrong.” KLIATT Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick; January 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 1)

From the publisher:   “Jennifer Armstrong narrates these almost unbelievable events with vigor, an eye for detail, and an appreciation of the marvelous leadership of Ernest Shackleton, who brought home every one of his men alive.”

SHIPWRECK contains many black and white photographs that Shackleton’s crew took while on course. Frank Hurley was the Expedition Photographer and the pictures captured really tell the reader the weather elements the crew experienced. The photographs also show the emotions and determination on the men’s faces. The maps at the front also indicated the route The Endurance Expedition traveled from 1914-1916.

Students in sixth grade or older would find this an intriguing book of fortitude, stamina, and spirit of team work.   The historical and geographical information is this book would capture many readers and also make them wonder, how did they do it! The sites below would give further investigative information to the reader. A movie was made about Shackleton’s expedition and images from the book and other photographs are available at the second link.

http://www.aetv.com/tv/shows/shackleton/index.html

http://www.shackleton-endurance.com/images.html

OUT OF DARKNESS, a biography written by Russell Freedman makes Louis Braille come alive. Braille was a young French boy that at the age of three injured himself with a tool from his father’s work shed. He had a difficult time walking around his own home and could not learn to read. He had an opportunity to attend the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris at the age of ten. He enjoyed school and found music to be a time of relaxation. “When the music flowed forth from beneath his fingers, he could sail off on voyages across the boundless ocean of life, unhampered by his blindness.” Page 32. He learned the system of Valentin Hauy and then on to sonography invented by Captain Barbier to read. Braille did not find either way very beneficial for reading. It was slow and laborious. He was very bright and desired to learn more. He worked hard after his school day to develop another system by making a series of dots to form a letter. He used a stylus and paper and punched all his waking moments. After many years, numerous demonstrations, the country of France with the help of Guadet accepted Louis Braille’s alphabet. Braille died at a young age of 43. He was a very generous man, teacher, and organist.

Freedman’s books are very accurate. He reads, visits, and studies about his topics before he writes. He has written over 40 nonfiction books on subjects ranging from animal behavior to American history. Freedman also consulted the American Foundation for the Blind for suggestions and advice. He visited the birthplace of Braille in Coupvray, France.

Freedman brings history alive for his readers. His style of writing is fascinating and energetic. The reader’s emotions elevate as they read about Braille’s accident. Freedman walks the reader step by step in a simplistic manner to describe what medicinal education was available in 1812. “The child’s vision became blurred. He stumbled about, unable to find anything but the location of the window. His world grew dimmer and darker until, at last, he stared with an empty gaze.” Page 9-10.

OUT OF DARKNESS is chronologically organized. Freedman introduces Braille as a young boy and then walks the reader through his short lifetime. The sequence of information is easy for the reader to follow.

The design of the book is simple and done in black and white. The pencil sketching done by Kate Kiesler is very appropriate for the historical time of this biography. The reader may wonder if the black and white-the pencil sketches were selected because of the topic, blindness. The blind only see black images. Diagrams of Braille’s alphabet are also included. Reference aids contained in this biography are the table of content and an index.

Freedman involves the reader’s senses in this story about Louis Braille. He makes the reader understand that being blind is not a handicap. Braille was a courageous and innovative man. He left the world a better place for all of us and especially the blind. Students might want to check out this link:

http://www.afb.org/braillebug/default.asp

Jean Fritz has written many biographies. Several of those, Shhh! We’re Writing the Constitution, Where Do You Think You’re Going, Christopher Columbus?, Cabin Faced West, or What’s the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? bring the reader interests to learning about another well known person in history. Fritz writes informally but with an enlightening style.

LEONARDO’S HORSE is a biography about Leonardo da Vinci. He was a man with a vision to create those things that were unknown. “What was the point, Leonardo asked, in copying what had already been done?” Page 5. He was born during the Renaissance period and people were ready to become curious again. Leonardo was an artist, an engineer, an architect, a musician, a philosopher, and an astronomer.

He was commissioned to create a horse for the Duke of Milan. He visited stables and learned through observing and measuring, everything he could about horses. While his thoughts of horses were being put on hold, he was busy painting in Florence, building stages and entertaining guests with his musical talents in Milan. He finally completed his clay model in 1493. It was twenty-four feet high. It was a success. The next task was to cast it. He began the painting of the Last Supper. In 1498, the French invaded Milan. The metal Leonardo had collected to cast the horse was used for a cannon. The attack of Milan commenced in 1499. The French soldiers shot arrows at the horse. The rain came and the horse became a mud pile with arrows. As da Vinci grew older, he continued to paint, but he never forgot about his horse. He died in 1519.

Several hundred years passed and Leonardo da Vinci was not forgotten. Charles Dent loved art and wanted to bring Leonardo’s horse back for the world to enjoy. He built a dome and then began the process of building the clay horse. The casting was to begin in 1994, but Dent became very ill and died. Nina Akamu agreed to fix and finish the horse for the Dent Family. Nina was able to fulfill da Vinci’s and Dent’s dream and the unveiling of the statue was exactly five hundred years to the day since the French invaded Milan and destroyed Leonardo’s horse. The horse was presented to the people in 1999.

Hudson Talbot is the artist for this biography. He studied art in Italy and walked the streets as Leonardo did when he was young. He used watercolors, pen and ink, colored pencil, and collage to create the many double spread pages. The book also is rounded at the top to encompass the dome feeling Charles Dent constructed to exhibit his many pieces of art and the horse.

The setting of this biography brings awareness of the Renaissance period to art students. It was a time of rebirth and new creations in the art field. “The style of art in which the artist strives to make the painted scene look as real and natural as possible. Renaissance artists such as Leonardo became highly skilled at creating realism in their paintings.” Leonardo was on the cutting edge of the new wave of art. “European artists began to study the model of nature more closely and to paint with the goal of greater realism. They learned to create lifelike people, animals, and they became skilled at creating the illusion of depth and distance on flat walls and canvases by using the techniques of linear perspective.” The following link will assist in future reading about da Vinci: http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/LeonardosPerspective.html

LEONARDO’S HORSE was a Bluebonnet nominee during the school year 2003-2004. Students in grades third through sixth would enjoy this introduction to da Vinci life. Hopefully the young readers would pursue other stories about his life and learn to appreciate what great artistic work Leonardo da Vinci brought to our culture. The above link will inspire prospective artists.

Simon, Seymour. 2000. GORILLAS. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN: 0060230355.

Seymour Simon has written numerous science and animal books. GORILLAS is an informational trade book that will excite children.

Simon describes the different types of gorillas that exists, where they survive, and basically how humanistic they are.

Most gorillas live in forested areas in Africa. The gorillas are divided into three basic groups: western lowland gorillas, mountain gorillas and eastern lowland gorillas. The differences are mainly size, color, and where they live. The “mountain gorillas are the rarest and only a few hundred live in two separate patches of forest.” Page 8. Baby gorillas only weigh four to five pounds when they are born. They rapidly develop and start walking within the third to fourth month. The gorillas travel in families while they are hunting for food. The ‘silverback’ is a large adult male. As he grows older, his hair starts to turn gray, much like humans as we age. He becomes the leader of the family and the family members follow him.

Simon writes in a friendly style. He coveys the information easily and uses comparisons to reach the reader. For example: “Fully grown males may weigh more than four hundred pounds, about the weight of ten second-grade children.” Page 8. Young readers will be able to understand this relationship and envision how much a gorilla weighs. Simon also describes how large a silverback is by giving the dimension and then another comparison: “He stands five and a half feet tall or more and has an arm spread of eight feet, about the distance from the floor to the ceiling in a house.” Page 14.

Most people are afraid of gorillas because of what we view in movies. Simon describes to the reader that gorillas are basically shy. “Gorillas are almost nothing like the scary beasts you see in Hollywood movies. Real gorillas don’t snatch humans and carry them off into the jungle. They do not climb tall buildings and swat planes from the sky.” Page 5.

The colorful photographs are almost touchable and cuddly despite the gorilla’s size. The facial expressions that the photographer has captured compliment the easily read text. The organization of GORILLAS is easy to follow. There are no reference aids in this book. It is more of an introduction to gorillas for young readers in elementary school. The style is “just right” for readers.

Seymour Simon has a gift of writing for students. Having written over 200 award winning books, GORILLAS is another successful nonfiction book that would not stay on the shelf very long. Students might want to access his website and learn more about Mr. Simon:

http://www.seymoursimon.com/meet.htm