Take a trip in history to see how Tom Crean started and how he gloriously finished all three of his Antarctic expeditions from bumps to triumphs, his adventures of life and family and up to his death at the age of 61.
This book is about a young boy called Tom Crean from Annascaul in Kerry. He grew up on a farm but had no interest in farming so he set off for the Navy at the young age of 17 in search of work. He went on many expeditions throughout his career including his first expedition on the Discovery with Captain Robert Falcon Scott as his skipper, The Terra Nova also with Captain Robert Falcon Scott as his skipper and the Endurance with Captain Frank Worsley as his skipper but Ernest Shackelton commanding the expedition. Tom faced many challenges throughout his adventures including extreme temperatures and poor weather conditions.
I thought that this book was very intriguing and made me want to read more. I thought the book was quite entertaining. The illustrations were excellent. There was a small bit of fiction and comedy which I liked. It was a rather interesting book. I would recommend to people who enjoy history, or people who like travelling to faraway places.
I liked the illustrations and the vocabulary was very good and I would definitely read it again. I disliked when they had to kill their dogs and horses. My favourite part of the book was when they were on the James Caird and they sailed over 800 miles to South Georgia. I would recommend this book for age groups from 9-12. I would rate this book at least 9.5/10. It was very interesting and I would highly recommend it to readers in the senior end of primary school.
By Trish Nugent
“Tom Crean – Irish Antarctic Hero” by Michael Smith and David Butler, published by O’ Brien Press, is on sale now for €14.99 (P/B).
Disclaimer: This book was provided by the publisher, O’ Brien Press, free of charge to Seomra Ranga for the purposes of this review.
