Race to the Bottom of the Earth by Rebecca F. Barone

Race to the Bottom of the Earth details how four men, separated by 112 years, risk life and limb to become the first to conquer the forbidding continent of Antarctica.

Race to the Bottom of the Earth: Surviving Antarctica by Rebecca F. Barone. Henry Holt, 2021, 225 pages plus notes, bibliography, and index.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 10-15

In 1906, Captain Robert Scott aimed to be the first man to reach the South Pole—again. He’d made one attempt three years earlier and failed just 8 degrees short of his goal. This time he would employ what he’d learned from his mistakes. Instead of relying on dogs, which had let him down on the first try, he would design and build motorized sledges (it was the 20^th century, after all), with dogs and Siberian ponies as backup. His expedition had barely reached the continent of Antarctica when word reached him that Raold Amundsen, having failed to be the first to claim the North Pole, had set his sights on the south. The expedition was now a race.

Fast-forward 110 years. Lou Rudd, a captain in the British military, was preparing a solo journey: to be the first to cross the continent of Antarctica alone and unaided, hauling all his supplies on a polar sled. The trip was partly to honor his friend Henry Worsley, who had died while making a similar attempt. Rudd hoped to achieve the impossible, unaware that an American, Colin O’Brady, had decided on a similar goal. Though neither intended it that way, the first solo traverse of Antarctica would also be a race.

Why anyone would even think of traversing the world’s most inhospitable landscape is a mystery to me but the author makes all four men relatable. We can rejoice in their successes and feel chagrin at their failures (and fatalities). They make mistakes and miscalculations, some with grave consequences. They experienced hairbreadth escapes and soul-shattering setbacks. Triumph alternates with tragedy. I don’t get it, but it’s good to have such determined explorers and adventurers among us. True-life adventure enthusiasts will eat it up.

Consideration:

• The contemporary explorers, O’Brady in particular, express no particular religion besides a generalized spirituality.

Overall Rating: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 3.5
• Artistic/literary value: 4.5

Read more about our ratings here.                 

Also at Redeemed Reader:

Review: Into the Clouds, the saga of three teams aiming to conquer the world’s most dangerous mountain (not Everest) offers similar chills and thrills.

 Reflection: Read Betsy’s thoughts on “The Adventurous Reader”

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