School Library Journal Review
Gr 6 Up-It took five years of arduous training, fund-raising, and planning to get this competent team to Antarctica in 1992. Unable to secure the corporate sponsorship of most men's expeditions, the American Women's Expedition (AWE) relentlessly pursued their goal to become the first women to reach the South Pole on foot. Their 67-day journey on skis, pulling 200-pound sleds, is dramatically detailed in a well-balanced mix of personal diary entries, interviews, letters, radio dispatches, newsletter excerpts, and narrative. Loewen and Bancroft's prose is spare and visual, a good match for the subject. They invite readers to imagine the team's first day as the small plane flies away, leaving them alone in this brutal environment. Many of the struggles are predictably physical, such as blisters, injuries, and nearly overwhelming fatigue. However, the gravest struggles were emotional and psychological. The women's success in the face of powerful challenges is a testament to their courage and ability. The well-designed book features varying margin widths to signal diary entries and effective use of blue dividing lines and a sastrugi (hard waves of ice and snow) pattern. More than a dozen well-captioned, full-color and black-and-white photographs provide stark images of the punishing terrain, sleds and equipment, and the determined faces of the four women. An epilogue gives information about their continued connection to Antarctica, including Bancroft's most recent history-making endeavor-a two-woman traverse of the continent. This thrilling book should enjoy a wide audience.-Lee Bock, Glenbrook Elementary School, Pulaski, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
With excerpts from the womenÆs journals, tape transcripts, color photos, and explanatory paragraphs, the authors describe the 1992-93 four-woman expedition to the South Pole. The primary sources make the account highly immediate, acquainting readers with the difficulties of Antarctic life and the emotional and physical challenges each woman faced. Bib., ind. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 6-9. This candid account of the experiences of the first all-female team to traverse Antarctica on foot joins a growing body of young-adult literature about arctic exploration. Day-by-day entries drawn from the four women's diaries, taped interviews, research transcripts, and expedition newsletters re-create the physically and psychologically punishing trek to the South Pole. Occasionally humorous but more often painfully matter-of-fact, the entries are revealing testaments to the women's strength. Readers will be amazed by the courage and stubborn resolve the adventurers exhibited as they battled not only dangerous terrain and brutal temperatures but also injury and physical and mental exhaustion as they pushed on to reach the South Pole. An extensive bibliography and a selection of Web sites, including one about Bancroft's successful 2000 traverse of Antarctica, are appended. Suggest this to teachers considering a real-life survival unit. --Chris Sherman
