fiction Archives - Page 327 of 714

The Impossible First: An Explorer’s Race Across Antarctica (Young Readers Edition)
by Colin O’Brady (Author)

Booktalk: Prior to December 2018, no individual had ever crossed the landmass of Antarctica alone, without support, and completely human-powered. But Colin O’Brady was determined to do just that–even though ten years earlier a tragic accident raised doubts that he’d ever walk again normally.

O’Brady’s quest drew him into a head-to-head battle with British SAS Captain Louis Rudd–also striving to be “the first.” Enduring Antarctica’s sub-zero temperatures and pulling a sled that initially weighed 375 pounds in complete isolation and through a succession of whiteouts, storms, and a series of near disasters, O’Brady journeyed 932 miles to a world first.

Snippet: The plane shuddered and shook as it landed, its skis rattling on the sea ice. The crew helped me pull off the sled, offered a few bang-bang handshakes of good luck, and jumped back in with a schedule to keep, taxiing off to deliver Rudd to his drop-off a mile away, the same distance as me from the starting line waypoint at the continent’s edge.

See the PBSNewsHour story.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

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Saucy
by Cynthia Kadohata (Author) and Marianna Raskin (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Being a quadruplet can make it hard to stand out from the crowd. Becca’s three brothers all have something that makes them…them. Bailey has his music and dancing, Jammer plays hockey, and K.C. thinks they’re all living in a simulation and doesn’t see the point of doing much of anything. Becca is the only one with nothing to make her special.

But when she finds a tiny, sick piglet on the side of the road, Becca knows this is it. This is her thing. She names the piglet Saucy and between her own pleading and Saucy’s sweet, pink face, Becca convinces her family to take her in. Soon, Saucy is as big a part of the family as anyone else–and getting bigger. With each pound Saucy gains, the more capable she becomes of destroying the house and landing Becca in trouble.

Some tough decisions need to be made about Becca’s pet, and her search for solutions brings to light exactly where Saucy came from. Turns out, there are a lot more scared piglets out there, and saving them may take Becca and her brothers finally doing something together.

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