Review by Booklist Review
This picture book for older readers offers a well-told account of Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl's dramatic 1947 sea journey aboard Kon-Tiki, undertaken to support his migration theory and hypothesis that South American Incan and South Pacific Island cultures were connected. Despite others' skepticism, he and a small crew departed Peru for Polynesia aboard a primitive raft. The voyage, spanning 4,300 nautical miles, was difficult and dangerous, including facing a life-threatening storm, which damaged the vessel and left them adrift, though ultimately, their arrival on Polynesian shores demonstrated that such a journey was possible. In clear, descriptive prose, the narrative traces the venture from its onset, including building Kon-Tiki, living daily on the sea, surviving weather, enduring shipwreck, and reaching land. A quote from Heyerdahl's journal heads each spread, with text inset into softly rendered watercolor illustrations depicting events with lush hues. An afterword further details the expedition and discusses Heyerdahl's book, a related Oscar-winning documentary, and his still-debated theory. Additional back matter includes a brief biography material, multimedia resources, a bibliography, and source notes.--Rosenfeld, Shelle Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-5-Using concrete language and evocative watercolors, Ray tells the story of anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 voyage to prove his hypothesis that the ancient people of Peru traveled by raft to settle in Polynesia. Heyerdahl and his five-man crew sailed on the Kon-Tiki, a raft made of hemp and balsa wood that was named for an ancient Incan god. Their equipment consisted of a sextant, shortwave radios, and cameras to document their travels, and they subsisted mostly on fish. This extraordinary 101-day passage began at a harbor near Lima, Peru, and ended on an uninhabited island in Polynesia. Excerpts from Heyerdahl's own descriptions of frightening storms and calm and lonely days at sea appear in bold type on almost every page and greatly enhance the author's slightly dry narrative. A colorful map of the voyage on the endpapers complements the text. A short section, "Aftermath of the Impossible Voyage," explains that Heyerdahl and the crew were hailed as heroes for proving that a primitive craft could cross the Pacific Ocean-but recent DNA studies have not proven the Heyerdahl theory. A one-page biography of Heyerdahl is appended. VERDICT An intriguing and useful account of a remarkable journey.-Jackie Gropman, formerly at Chantilly Regional Library, VA © Copyright 2015. 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
When he was still in college, the Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl lived for a year on the Polynesian island of Fatu Hiva and became fascinated with a question: where did the Polynesian islanders come from? Stone carvings on the island resembled statues found in South America, indicating, perhaps, a connection between the Polynesian Tiki and the Incan god Kon-Tiki Viracocha. Though skeptics scoffed at Heyerdahls idea (most scholars believed that Polynesia was originally settled from Asia), in 1947 he embarked on a 4,300-mile ocean voyage and proved that ancient Incan sailors could have reached the South Pacific by raft. In dramatic double-page watercolor spreads, Ray follows Heyerdahl and his five-man crew on their 101-day odyssey on a balsa-log raft. Emphasizing high-seas adventure over theory, the story will capture the imagination of young readers with the drama of flying fish, gale-force winds, giant waves, and, ultimately, the rafts fortuitous landing on an uninhabited Polynesian island. However, though the large-scale illustrations are visually appealing, they also limit the number of scenes in which to tell the story, and the long ocean voyage is over too quickly for young readers to get a true sense of the arduous quest. Back matter includes a more thorough discussion of anthropologists theories of populations and migrations and notes that Heyerdahl was one of the first to warn of pollution in the oceans and to advocate for a green world. dean schneider (c) Copyright 2015. 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
Bucking expert opinion, a young Norwegian anthropologist sets out on a balsa log raft to show that pre-Columbian voyagers from South America might well have traveled to the Pacific islands. Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 voyage moved the dial from "impossible" to "possible," but not to "probable," and as the author herself admits in an afterword, there is still little credible evidence of any sustained westward migration. Nonetheless, the tale of that 4,300-nautical-mile journey makes a grand one. Ray's prose describes how he sailed with his crew of five from Peru without escort through seas calm and wild, supplementing stored provisions with caught fish, braving months of sudden rogue waves and damaging storms on the way to a final shipwreck on a Polynesian reef. Ray uses watercolors to create soft-edged views of the raft and its small crew, varying her perspectives and her palette as much as possible to avoid potential monotony. One sunset image with the raft in the distance and a school of flying fish in the foreground is particularly effective. She heads her matter-of-fact narrative with quotes from Heyerdahl's bestselling account on each page, closing with further commentary and a biographical note. A low-key tribute to a now little-remembered expedition that is still capable of catching the imagination. (map, notes, resource lists) (Informational picture book. 7-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
