Roald Amundsen: The Conquest of the South Pole.

Gregory Bryan is a member of the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.

Each book in Crabtree’s In the Footsteps of Explorers series is 32 pages in length and filled to overflowing with interesting biographical details about famous explorers. The books contain large, colourful illustrations, and many also contain historical black-and-white photographs. Also included in each title are a glossary, table of contents, simple timelines, and an index.

Roald Amundsen: The Conquest of the South Pole tells the story of Amundsen, who is credited with leading the first successful expedition to the South Pole. Yet Amundsen was a Norwegian who had spent much of his life dreaming of, and exploring, the northern Arctic regions of the world. Reflecting upon his accomplishments in the south, Amundsen said, “The regions around the North Pole—well, yes, the North Pole itself—had attracted me from childhood, and here I was at the South Pole. Can anything more topsy-turvy be imagined?”

Readers can turn their attention from the bottom of the world to the top with Sir John Franklin: The Search for the Northwest Passage, which provides details on the life of the Arctic explorer, John Franklin. Particular attention is paid to Franklin’s ill-fated final expedition in 1847.

Only a touch over 50 years ago, no one had ever stood atop Mount Everest. With that fact in mind, it is remarkable that almost two thousand people will likely reach the summit in the first decade of our new millennium. All people who now reach the top owe a debt of gratitude to Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, who were first to the top of the mountain on May 29, 1953. Hillary and Norgay: To the Top of Mount Everest provides details on the enormity of their accomplishment.

The series is an essential addition to all elementary and middle school libraries. It will prove invaluable to children researching and reporting on the topic of explorers and exploration. Recommended.