Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey

by Nick Bertozzi, Nick Bertozzi (Illustrator)

Overview

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Ernest Shackleton was one of the last great Antarctic explorers, and he led one of the most ambitious Antarctic expeditions ever undertaken. This is his story, and the story of the dozens of men who threw in their lot with him - many of whom nearly died in the unimaginably harsh conditions of the journey. It's an astonishing feat - and was unprecedented at the time - that all the men in the expedition survived.

Shackleton's expedition marked the end of a period of romantic exploration of the Arctic and the Antarctic, and this is as much a book about the encroaching modern world as it is about travel. But Nick Bertozzi has documented this remarkable journey with such wit and fiendish attention to detail that it's impossible not to get caught up in the drama of the voyage. Shackleton is a phenomenal accompaniment to Bertozzi's earlier graphic novel about great explorers, Lewis & Clark.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596434516
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	06/17/2014
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	315,320
Product dimensions:	6.08(w) x 8.57(h) x 0.41(d)
Lexile:	GN620L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Nick Bertozzi lives in Queens, New York, with his wife and daughters. He is the author and/or artist of many other cartoon stories, among them The Salon, Houdini: The Handcuff King, and First Second's Stuffed, Lewis & Clark, and Jerusalem. Shackleton is his newest graphic novel, also published by First Second.

Editorial Reviews

Graphic novels of this style…make the reader work a little harder than a conventional written history would, but there's pleasure to be had in that work and in admiring Bertozzi's deft pen-and-ink style…For those who want more of Shackleton's history, Bertozzi provides a list of book, museum and online sources. But Shackleton, exciting, amusing and detailed, may be just enough for many readers.

The New York Times - Sarah Harrison Smith

★ 05/19/2014
Translating historical accounts into the graphic novel format can be an iffy proposal, often reducing the subject to illustrated factual regurgitation, but Bertozzi (Lewis and Clark) compellingly brings readers along for Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914–1915 conquest of the South Pole, just in time for the centennial anniversary of the expedition. After two failed previous attempts to reach the pole, Shackleton and a stalwart crew braved unimaginable desolation, an eight-month stretch with their icebreaker at a standstill, the ship sinking when crushed by tons of thawing ice, and the subsequent trek across 374 miles of frozen wastes. It's an epic true-life adventure, and Bertozzi's storytelling will keep readers riveted as he illustrates the expedition's day-to-day travails in b&w panels as sparse as the stark expanses Shackleton and crew crossed. That bleakness is offset by Bertozzi's depiction of the tenacity, camaraderie, and humor of the men, and it's that spotlighting of the crew's unwavering humanity in the face of icy doom that sets this book apart. A must-read for history buffs and fans of cinema-quality visual storytelling alike. Ages 12–up. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Bertozzi's newest graphic novel explores the adventures of another famous explorer, Ernest Shackleton, who led one of the most ambitious expeditions of the Antarctic continent.” —VOYA

“This book is an excellent choice for readers who enjoy nonfiction, graphic novels, explorers, true adventure, and impossible dreams.” —School Library Journal

“Bertozzi follows legendary explorer Ernest Shackleton from professional nadir to triumphant climax, saving his team from feared abandonment at the bottom of the world . . . The bone-chilling wetness, the numbing cold, and the persistent struggle against hopelessness come through clearly.” —BCCB

“Perfect for fans of real-life adventure stories.” —Booklist

“* A top-shelf rendition of one of the greatest survival stories to come out of the Age of Exploration.” —Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW

“A lighthearted graphic novel packed with detail makes an original contribution to the literature on Ernest Shackleton.” —The Honourable Alexandra Shackleton, granddaughter of Sir Ernest Shackleton and President of the James Caird Society

“This is an expedition drawn out from the pages of the men who described what they saw firsthand, and rather than standing apart and narrating, Bertozzi tells it as though you've gotten in the boat with them. It's personal, jovial, exciting, and when the stakes are high, it's cold, uncertain, and exhausting. We get to know Shackleton and his crew; we want them to succeed.” —Kate Beaton, Hark, a Vagrant!

“A wonderful introduction to one of the most important expeditions and one of the most dramatic stories in American history.” —Ken Burns on Lewis & Clark

“Nick Bertozzi's comics do more than bring history to life: they reanimate these long dead souls and make them human again.” —John Hodgman on Lewis & Clark

“STARRED REVIEW: That bleakness is offset by Bertozzi's depiction of the tenacity, camaraderie, and humor of the men, and it's that spotlighting of the crew's unwavering humanity in the face of icy doom that sets this book apart. A must-read for history buffs and fans of cinema-quality visual storytelling alike.” —Publishers Weekly on Lewis & Clark

From the Publisher

08/01/2014
Gr 7 Up—Like Bertozzi's Lewis & Clark (First Second, 2011), this is another graphic novel focusing on the real lives of explorers. Ernest Shackleton is most famous for his plan to cross the Antarctic by foot, which was a miserable failure (their ship Endurance was crushed by the ice, and the crew was stranded for months on end) and yet defied incredible odds (all of the men in the expedition survived). The story is told primarily through dialogue, which helps to personalize this chapter in history, but the informational text and maps will help readers grasp the full impact of the challenges the men faced on this expedition. The book is filled with humanizing touches, like the ways the men kept up morale with practical jokes and playing games together on the ice. Like the famous photographs of Shackleton's expedition, Bertozzi's black-and-white artwork captures both the bleakness and the majesty of the surrounding snow and ice. The cover image is especially gripping, as Shackleton stands on broken slabs of ice while his trapped ship tilts ominously behind him. This book is an excellent choice for readers who enjoy nonfiction, graphic novels, explorers, true adventure, and impossible dreams.—Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library

School Library Journal

★ 2014-04-09
With just a hint of artistic license, a retelling in graphic form of the ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-17.Keeping readers oriented with maps and dates that heighten the drama (if it were possible), Bertozzi introduces Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic career with glimpses of early ventures in 1901 and 1907. He then provides a captioned portrait gallery of each member of the expedition, including the dogs, before going on to retrace in detail the course and fate of the ship Endurance, which was trapped in ice and eventually crushed. The exhausting, monthslong trek over rough ice and treacherous waters to reach a rescue point takes up most of the book. The author places figures drawn with a fine pen within small but easily legible panels, and he uses a color scheme of black, white and a midtone gray that effectively captures the Antarctic's alien, implacable harshness. His tale is infused, though, with both humor ("My posterior is chafed thoroughly from cleaning with ice," complains an expedition member, pulling up his trousers) and a strong sense of the stiff-upper-lip camaraderie that, along with Shackleton's outstanding leadership, kept the expedition together and led, against all odds, to the survival of its every (human) member.A top-shelf rendition of one of the greatest survival stories to come out of the Age of Exploration. (source list) (Graphic historical fiction. 10-16)

Kirkus Reviews