Review by Booklist Review
This handsome book presents 14 journeys of exploration, from Pytheas the Greek in 240 BC to the Apollo moon landing in 1969. Sailors dominate the first half of the book: Leif Eriksson, Marco Polo, Zheng He, Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, and Captain Cook. The second half follows explorers David Livingstone and Mary Kingsley through Africa, Umberto Nobile to the Arctic, Auguste Piccard up into the stratosphere, Jacques Piccard down into the ocean's depths, and Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to the summit of Mount Everest. A glossary and a source bibliography are appended. Clearly written chapters trace the expeditions and underscore the challenges that the explorers faced. Precise, beautifully shaded colored-pencil artwor. appears throughout the book and, notably, on a large, foldout sheet tipped into a page of each chapter. From the maps to the drawings of vessels and artifacts to the detailed cutaway views that make each bit of technology more understandable, Biesty's well-labeled illustrations make this one of the most visually fascinating books available on explorers.--Phelan, Caroly. Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-From Pytheas the Greek to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren, Ross recounts the stories of daring expeditions undertaken by men and women through the ages. An accessible text and superb visuals-foldout diagrams and spectacular physical maps and cross-sections-guarantee hours of enjoyment. (May) (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Ross and Biesty take readers on fourteen historical explorations, ranging from Pytheas the Greek's voyage to the Arctic three thousand years ago to Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins's moon shot in 1969. Although the human drive for discovery (think of Mary Kingsley traveling up the African Ogoou River in 1895 or Jacques Piccard descending almost thirty thousand feet to the Pacific's Mariana Trench in the mid-twentieth century) underlies each account, answering the "how did they do that?" question becomes the focus of this remarkable book. Detailed cross sections, often displayed in foldout segments, diagram each mode of transportation, including the Viking knarr ships, a caravansary for Marco Polo, and a mountaineer's clothing and equipment for Sir Edmund Hillary. Kids can not only study the parts of Zheng He's Chinese junk but also compare its construction to that of Columbus's square-rigged caravels or Captain Cook's bark, The Endeavor. Like the illustrations, each chapter can be examined alone, but there are also subtle connections between expeditions. Maps abound, again within foldout pages allowing a large enough scope to detail the travels of Magellan or the perspective to chart the winding trail of Sir Hillary. The care for detail is extended to the text in Ross's diligent differentiation between fact and opinion. Appended with an index, glossary, bibliography, and source notes for direct quotations. betty carter (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
(Nonfiction. 9-13)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
