Conferences this fall: 12 hours; 40 parents. On average, that’s about one parent every 20 minutes. In our district, all of the teachers are seated at tables in the Commons, so parents can easily find us. Unfortunately, that means when there is downtime, we can’t do much but socialize. (It seems rude to actually delve into work with so many people milling about.) Luckily, I had something interesting to read this year: Jennifer Armstrong’s Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World. The account of how Shackleton and every single one of his men survived the Antarctic was actually one that I’ve never heard of, so I’m glad I had to read it!
I found the format of the book very accessible, and I can see why it was chosen for the adolescent literature course. The facts were presented so well that it read like a story, and the pictures were strategically placed so that the reader could visualize the “plot” and “characters” when the narration was very technical. One place that I thought was particularly effective was when Armstrong was describing how far the men had to travel to Paulet Island: 346 miles. Most adults would have no problem knowing how far that was, but I could see how adolescents may not have experience to truly grasp such a distance. Armstrong gave three examples: Boston to New York, Los Angeles to San Francisco, and the width of Iowa; cleverly referencing three major parts of the United States: the East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest, and therefore providing a connection for adolescent readers from all over the country. Nice technique!
The book is non-fiction, so obviously readers expect to learn something. I was pleased with what I did learn, however! Not only did I learn about the entire survival experience of Shackleton and his men, but I also learned a lot about ice (did you know that there are more than 80 kinds of it?) and early 20th century navigation skills. Right when I was beginning to wonder how on earth they knew where they were, and how they knew how to get back to safety, Armstrong answered my question about determining longitude and latitude in plenty of reader-friendly detail. “How did they know where they were?...They used a few basic instruments, an almanac, and math” (72). Although I didn’t follow it all (I am an English teacher for a reason!), I appreciated the time she spent explaining the processes Frank Worsley used to get the men back. I thought it would be an excellent project for math and science classes; I know many of my students would enjoy such a hands-on activity, and gain a deeper appreciation for GPS that is available in many cars today!
Finally, I found myself thinking how many of my students who wrote a five-paragraph essay on the most important skills needed to survive would be mesmerized by this book. I think next year when I teach that essay, I will show the students the following quotes once they’ve written their own essays, to compare the standard answers of knowing how to hunt, make a fire, and find water:
- “Shackleton was a master at keeping his crew working together…he never let them forget that their strength lay in unity” (12).
- “Orde-Lees was skiing near the edge of the flow when a twelve-foot-long, fanged leopard seal lunged up out of the water and began humping toward him at an astonishing speed…Suddenly, the animal lunged back into the water. As Orde-Lees had reached the opposite side of the floe, the leopard seal burst up out of the water in front of him, jaws agape” (66).
- “The thought of those fellows on Elephant Island kept us going all the time. It might have been different if we’d only had ourselves to think about. You can get so tired in the snow, particularly if you’re hungry, that sleep seems just the best thing life has to give…but if you’re a leader, a fellow that other fellows look to, you’ve got to keep going” (116).
I’ll bet a lot of them will ask to read the book. J
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