Black Whiteness: Admiral Byrd Alone In The Antarctic

Burleigh (Hoops, p. 1386, etc.) retells Admiral Richard Byrd's successful six-month, one-man Antarctic encampment in a picture book aimed at an older audience. In 1934, Byrd was determined to learn how an individual could withstand the harshness--and loneliness--of the Antarctic night. Burleigh's spare prose eloquently captures the spartan surroundings in which Byrd conducted daily meteorological studies with only a flashlight, a lantern, and a small gas lamp against constant darkness and temperatures of-60¯F. Passages lifted from Byrd's daily journal are a testament to his convictions, and Krudop's illustrations starkly reflect the subtle play of light against the dark, icy landscape. While Byrd ultimately survived an illness to welcome a relief crew, his story is severe, often depressing, and always riveting.