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Antarctica #2
Escape from Disaster
On a secret American expedition to the South Pole in 1910, Jack Winslow and his sons face mutiny, doubt, and disaster, and must risk their lives to make a daring rescue attempt.
251 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2000
18 people are currently reading
98 people want to read
About the author
Peter Lerangis
153 books792 followersLerangis's work includes The Viper's Nest and The Sword Thief, two titles in the children's-book series The 39 Clues, the historical novel Smiler's Bones, the YA dark comedy-adventure novel wtf, the Drama Club series, the Spy X series, the Watchers series, the Abracadabra series, and the Antarctica two-book adventure, as well ghostwriting for series such as the Three Investigators, the Hardy Boys Casefiles, Sweet Valley Twins, and more than forty books in the series The Baby-sitters Club and its various spin-offs.[1] He has also written novels based on film screenplays, including The Sixth Sense, Sleepy Hollow, and Beauty and the Beast, and five video game novelizations in the Worlds of Power series created by Seth Godin.[2] As a ghostwriter he has been published under the name A. L. Singer.[3]
Lerangis is the son of a retired New York Telephone Company employee and a retired public-elementary-school secretary, who raised him in Freeport, New York on Long Island. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in biochemistry, while acting in musicals[4] and singing with and musically directing the a cappella group the Harvard Krokodiloes,[5][6] before moving to New York. He worked there as an actor[7] and freelance copy editor for eight years before becoming an author.[8]
In 2003, Lerangis was chosen by First Lady Laura Bush to accompany her to the first Russian Book Festival, hosted by Russian First Lady Lyudmila Putina in Moscow.[9][10]Authors R. L. Stine (Goosebumps) and Marc Brown (the Arthur the Aardvark series) also made the trip with Bush.[9]
Also in 2003, Lerangis was commissioned by the United Kingdom branch of Scholastic to write X-Isle, one of four books that would relaunch the Point Horror series there.[11] A sequel, Return to X-Isle, was published in 2004.
In 2007, Scholastic announced the launch of a new historical mystery series called The 39 Clues, intended to become a franchise.[12] Lerangis wrote the third book in the series, The Sword Thief, published in March 2009.[13][14][15] On March 3, 2009, Scholastic announced that Lerangis would write the seventh book in the series, The Viper's Nest.[14][16]
Lerangis lives in New York City with his wife, musician Tina deVaron, and their sons Nick and Joe.[17]
Lerangis is the son of a retired New York Telephone Company employee and a retired public-elementary-school secretary, who raised him in Freeport, New York on Long Island. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in biochemistry, while acting in musicals[4] and singing with and musically directing the a cappella group the Harvard Krokodiloes,[5][6] before moving to New York. He worked there as an actor[7] and freelance copy editor for eight years before becoming an author.[8]
In 2003, Lerangis was chosen by First Lady Laura Bush to accompany her to the first Russian Book Festival, hosted by Russian First Lady Lyudmila Putina in Moscow.[9][10]Authors R. L. Stine (Goosebumps) and Marc Brown (the Arthur the Aardvark series) also made the trip with Bush.[9]
Also in 2003, Lerangis was commissioned by the United Kingdom branch of Scholastic to write X-Isle, one of four books that would relaunch the Point Horror series there.[11] A sequel, Return to X-Isle, was published in 2004.
In 2007, Scholastic announced the launch of a new historical mystery series called The 39 Clues, intended to become a franchise.[12] Lerangis wrote the third book in the series, The Sword Thief, published in March 2009.[13][14][15] On March 3, 2009, Scholastic announced that Lerangis would write the seventh book in the series, The Viper's Nest.[14][16]
Lerangis lives in New York City with his wife, musician Tina deVaron, and their sons Nick and Joe.[17]
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 17, 2013
This is a fictional account, treated as if it had been fact. This book is the second of a 2 part set that very poorly seeks to base their plot line on Ernest Shackleton's actual 1914-1917 expedition. If you haven't read the first book of the set, which I haven't, then you are simply dumped into an opening action sequence and have to start assimilating the characters and story line from the action and dialogue. In this case I could see the immediate parallels to the Endurance being crushed by the ice, but nothing here fit the actual facts.
Shackleton's Boat Journey, by F. A. Worsley is about a thousand times better than this pulp. It was written as documented fact, complete with photos of the expedition. It would be the actual factual account of the boat journey to reach a whaling station after the primary ship was crushed by the ice, and is the factual basis for this very very loose parallel failure of a story and a failed fictional expedition.
I don't see this as a kid's story, as I thought it was very poorly written, with dreamed up dialogue and interpersonal relations that might have come from a bunch of failed Hells Angels wann-a-bees after a night of heavy drinking.
And I'm sure that all kids want to read about freezing, starvation, penguin eating, and using seal blood as a type of caulking latex.
There are so many real accounts, well documented, and well written; with an organized approach to the goals, hardships, supplies, logistical climate and distance aspects, and ship and small boat handling in freezing conditions, that I think this is a waste of time and a shame to recommend to any reader. Much less young readers.
This author just grabbed a loose collection of action sequences and surrounded them with loose babble. The action sequences weren't presented in a credible fashion. For example, whaling ships sent out ships boats, "whaleboats", to fire harpoons manually at whales during the age of sail. In 1909, whaling ships would have at least already had boats out to recover a whale or track it in the case of multiple whales. In this book, at least 4 harpoons are sent flying at a surfaced whale right next to the boat that had survivors in it. If the harpooner could see the whale, he could see the boat that was at least 20-30 feet long right next to the whale. This also presumes a cannon type of harpoon gun, which was usually used on a smaller powered vessel, which also used a small flotilla of whaleboats to retrieve the whale(s). A ship's longboat containing survivors would have just been too obvious to a whaling fleet. It would have never floated, sailed, or been rowed to within range of the hunt without investigation.
And just to be a stickler, 5 masted sailing ships were used for fast ocean crossing trading and generally had a low width to length ratio, which would have hampered their use as whalers. Whaling ships were very stoutly built, were shorter and fatter, and were for the most part rigged with two primary masts and a mizzen mast, as a bark or barque. A true 3 masted ship usually had a gaff-rigged mizzen sail, and I don't think there were very many of this type of ship in use. Particularly by the British in 1900. The whaling ship had to accommodate the whale rendering furnace and rigging used to handle whales during rendering, which gave them a stout girth profile.
The author presented an "afterward" section at the end of the book, which gave the appearance of presenting a true biographical account of the characters in the story, as their lives evolved after the expedition experience. That section was very misleading to me, in that I usually only associate such a section with historical accounts of actual people. This book was presented as a book for young readers, which in my experience could care less about the after effects to people's lives who survive a grand experience and a tragedy. And I'm pretty sure that younger people as a group don't have the background to appreciate reunions of survivors that may span 30 years, as in this presentation.
One final thought: Shackleton's experience is currently widely recognized as a shining example of managerial skill in the face of adversity. The actual men on that expedition were very skilled for the expedition needs, and exhibited mental reserve, calmness, and orderliness This book takes the opposite tack with lack of leadership and dysfunctional characters involved in a mutiny.
Shackleton's Boat Journey, by F. A. Worsley is about a thousand times better than this pulp. It was written as documented fact, complete with photos of the expedition. It would be the actual factual account of the boat journey to reach a whaling station after the primary ship was crushed by the ice, and is the factual basis for this very very loose parallel failure of a story and a failed fictional expedition.
I don't see this as a kid's story, as I thought it was very poorly written, with dreamed up dialogue and interpersonal relations that might have come from a bunch of failed Hells Angels wann-a-bees after a night of heavy drinking.
And I'm sure that all kids want to read about freezing, starvation, penguin eating, and using seal blood as a type of caulking latex.
There are so many real accounts, well documented, and well written; with an organized approach to the goals, hardships, supplies, logistical climate and distance aspects, and ship and small boat handling in freezing conditions, that I think this is a waste of time and a shame to recommend to any reader. Much less young readers.
This author just grabbed a loose collection of action sequences and surrounded them with loose babble. The action sequences weren't presented in a credible fashion. For example, whaling ships sent out ships boats, "whaleboats", to fire harpoons manually at whales during the age of sail. In 1909, whaling ships would have at least already had boats out to recover a whale or track it in the case of multiple whales. In this book, at least 4 harpoons are sent flying at a surfaced whale right next to the boat that had survivors in it. If the harpooner could see the whale, he could see the boat that was at least 20-30 feet long right next to the whale. This also presumes a cannon type of harpoon gun, which was usually used on a smaller powered vessel, which also used a small flotilla of whaleboats to retrieve the whale(s). A ship's longboat containing survivors would have just been too obvious to a whaling fleet. It would have never floated, sailed, or been rowed to within range of the hunt without investigation.
And just to be a stickler, 5 masted sailing ships were used for fast ocean crossing trading and generally had a low width to length ratio, which would have hampered their use as whalers. Whaling ships were very stoutly built, were shorter and fatter, and were for the most part rigged with two primary masts and a mizzen mast, as a bark or barque. A true 3 masted ship usually had a gaff-rigged mizzen sail, and I don't think there were very many of this type of ship in use. Particularly by the British in 1900. The whaling ship had to accommodate the whale rendering furnace and rigging used to handle whales during rendering, which gave them a stout girth profile.
The author presented an "afterward" section at the end of the book, which gave the appearance of presenting a true biographical account of the characters in the story, as their lives evolved after the expedition experience. That section was very misleading to me, in that I usually only associate such a section with historical accounts of actual people. This book was presented as a book for young readers, which in my experience could care less about the after effects to people's lives who survive a grand experience and a tragedy. And I'm pretty sure that younger people as a group don't have the background to appreciate reunions of survivors that may span 30 years, as in this presentation.
One final thought: Shackleton's experience is currently widely recognized as a shining example of managerial skill in the face of adversity. The actual men on that expedition were very skilled for the expedition needs, and exhibited mental reserve, calmness, and orderliness This book takes the opposite tack with lack of leadership and dysfunctional characters involved in a mutiny.
April 20, 2015
This story was better than I thought it would be. Up until pg 60 it was pretty slow but after that it got really interesting. I would suggest this book to a young person interested in adventure & exploration.
July 22, 2021
You would think a story about a journey to the Antarctic where every character almost dies at least once would be more exciting but...no. Still deciding whether the Titanic nod at the end is funny or embarrassing.
March 23, 2023
I’m confused! Is this based on a real expedition that was never recognised or just fiction? Whichever it is, it was a compelling read as I read it in 2 days. Overall a great story. Very similar to Scott’s but nether the less a great read.
March 11, 2017
very disappointing
February 28, 2017
This is a thrilling story that takes place back before the titanic. It tells of tough sailors going up against frigid winds with very little food or shelter. It has plenty of twists and turns. Over all a great book.
May 30, 2011
It is confusing because the situation keeps on changing and the author wrote something in this novel that he hasn't ever mentioned in the book.
September 7, 2011
Not the best written story but a true account of a failed exhibition in the early 1900's
April 21, 2015
Such a great ending to the series! I wish there were more books, of course. I'll post a more detailed review after I reread it.
October 20, 2016
Entertaining enough quick-read, though I wondered most of the way through whether it was at least based on a real expedition.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews