Shackleton’s Journey, by William Grill

As yet I haven’t blogged much about the types of books I really like to read. Over the last 8 years, I have been reading a lot of picture books, as well as chapter books for the under 8’s. Lately, I have branched out and started to read some highly recommended books for the 8-12 yr age group in preparation for the next few years.

However, my personal selection of books draws heavily from the historical non-fiction category. As a teenager I was a bit of a history buff, then early in uni, I was introduced to Nathaniel Philbrick’s wonderful book In The Heart of the Sea. It got me hooked on the genre and I read as much of Philbrick’s works as  I could find. From there I read books containing really well researched and entertainingly presented accounts of events from history. Books like The Bounty by Caroline Alexander, The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester and Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose.

A few years ago as we were planning a trip I realised I needed something to read for the trip. I know that when taking 3 kids away it is a bit ridiculous to consider having enough downtime to read a book, but I lived in hope. I did what I used to do back then, go onto amazon, search for the books I liked and then look for other books like them. I came across a book called Endurance by Alfred Lansing and I loaded it onto my kindle.

I totally loved it. The book contains a detailed account of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition of 1914. With a goal of crossing Antarctica, Shackleton set out with a crew of men and dogs in a boat called Endurance. However, they experienced disasters that eventually meant the team had to work out how to survive in the one of the most hostile of environments on the planet with meager supplies, equipment and certainly no help. For a book originally published in 1959, it doesn’t feel old or outdated.

The events described are inspirational, to say the least. The heroic efforts of Shackleton and his men are now legendary and show the dire circumstances humans can not just exist in but also overcome.

I say all this to introduce a great non-fiction kids book we have had recently. A few weeks ago I saw Shackleton’s Journey on a news feed and put it straight on our reading list. Luckily our library already had it, so no waiting.

The book is a large, pictorial, non-fiction account of Shackleton and his crew as they attempt their Antartic Expedition. The illustrations give a sense of the environment and the circumstances of the men. The information is well presented and easy enough to understand for a +8yr old.

I was hoping to give the kids an experience with this remarkable story. The 8 yr old is the only one who has taken an interest so far, he read it to himself and seemed to understand the content. It was really nice to talk to my boy about real events that I find not just interesting but also inspiring.