The Worst Journey in the World

Emperors of the Ice: A True Story of Disaster and Survival in the Antarctic, 1910-13 by Richard Farr


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Great book. This is an account of Scott's fatal second expedition to the South Pole, told in the voice of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, and based in part on his monumental work, The Worst Journey in the World.

This is published for advanced younger readers, age 12 and up, but the story isn't dumbed-down, and an adult reader will find it as satisfying and gripping as a younger reader. The voice is all Cherry, and he tells the story of the first human expedition to see nesting Emperor penguins, which was nearly fatal in itself, and of Scott's final, push to the Pole, with the heroic Birdy Bowers and four other doomed explorers.

Most people won't read Cherry's full 600 page memoir, but this gives a great story of this expedition to the extremes that Earth has to offer.