Two men One dream Which one will become the first to reach the South Pole and bring the honor and glory home to their country? Trek along the route of discovery and adventure, deep into Antarctic wastelands. Relive the harrowing trials of Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott in a story of soaring triumph and bleak tragedy. Young readers will follow this race to greatness all the way to the ends of the Earth.
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Grades 2-4. This installment in the National Geographic History Chapters series, which shares the novel-size format of the publisher’s Science Chapters series, presents the dramatic, tragic story of the South Pole’s dueling explorers. Writing in six narrative chapters, Thompson introduces the two adventurers, then describes each rival’s journey to the Antarctic and the final push to the South Pole, which Scott’s team did not survive. Crisp, informatively captioned photographs, including some presumably taken by the doomed men, lend immediacy to the facts. Some readers’ curiosity may extend beyond the scope of Thompson’s text, which doesn’t adequately explain, for instance, the logistics of distributing food caches along the route or how the men recognized the Pole when they got there. The concluding list of books and Web sites will help fascinated readers find answers to their questions. The text was adapted from a title in National Geographic’s leveled reading program, but the photos and format are entirely new.
This book tells the story of the two explorers racing to be first to reach the South Pole. After giving some brief biographical information about the rivals, the engaging text focuses on the challenges and successes of the expeditions. The tight narrative is effective at creating tension; many archival photographs enhance the text. An epilogue describes today's Antarctica. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind.
Written in simple sentences and organized into chronological short chapters, each title reviews the early life of each subject, the factors that led to their place in history, and the changes brought about by each subject's historical contributions. Each book includes captioned photographs and drawings on each two-page spread, which help illustrate and emphasize the content. Ben Franklin Printer, Author, Inventor, Politician includes a timeline of the important events in his life, and Riding with the Mail, The Story of the Pony Express includes numerous "Did You Know?" factual sidebars. Each title has a section which reviews "How to Write an A+ Report," making the books even more valuable for first time research report writers. The subjects are interesting and the writing simple enough to allow for easy extraction of facts. Emerging readers will also appreciate the interesting topics, appropriate vocabulary, and short chapters. Bibliography. Glossary. Index. Highly Recommended. Anna Hartle, Integrated Technology Teacher/Librarian, Cincinnati (Ohio) Country Day School
Gr 2-4-These books focus on their subjects' accomplishments rather than on their personal lives. Nicely illustrated with photos, paintings, engravings, and facsimiles, they are just right for emerging chapter-book readers. The vocabulary is easy, and the sentence structure is simple and a little clipped. The words from the glossary appear within the text in regular type, not bold. The Web sites mentioned are all high quality. Each book also has a spread entitled "How to Write an A+ Report" that lists seven steps, from choosing a topic to submitting the final product. Useful titles for reports requiring information about accomplishments, and interesting pleasure reading.-Lynda Ritterman, Atco Elementary School, NJ Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.