Title: Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World

by Jennifer Armstrong

Publisher: Crown Publishers 1998 134 pages

Genre: History and Historical Fiction and Nonfiction

Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Summary:This is the story of the ship Endurance that was captained by Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton set out to be the first explorer to travel across the continent of Antarctica on foot. Along the way, the ship becomes trapped in the ice and is crushed by the ice until it sinks. Now stranded on the ice, they had to find a way to survive and a way back to civilization. Shackleton and a small group of men make their way to South Georgia Island in order to find help for his crew. A week later, even though he was sick and exhausted, Shackleton went back himself to retrieve the rest of his crew. All of them survived.

Response: I learned a lot from this book. Their sheer endurance and the fact that they were willing to do anything to survive really inspired me.