Australian author Alison Lester is perhaps best known for her picture books. However, she captivated her audience with her first novel, The Quicksand Pony. In a starred review, School Library Journal called it “a gripping adventure story, a tale of survival, an engaging mystery, a touching animal story, and a family saga.”
Sophie Scott Goes South
Hardcover
$17.99
- ISBN-13: 9780544088955
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- Publication date: 11/19/2013
- Pages: 40
- Sales rank: 425,461
- Product dimensions: 11.28(w) x 9.66(h) x 0.38(d)
- Lexile: 840L (what's this?)
- Age Range: 6 - 9 Years
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Nine-year-old Sophie is going on a month-long voyage to Antarctica, with her dad, the captain of an icebreaker. Sailing the frozen seas round-trip from Australia to Mawson Station in the South Pole, Sophie recounts the adventure of a lifetime in her own words, illustrations, and color photographs. She’ll show us icebergs, penguins, seals, and whales! It’s a dangerous journey, but Sophie is well prepared for the thrills and chills that await her on top of the world.
This friendly, informative, and beautifully presented picture book is based on the author’s own experiences and shows the wonder of Antarctica through a child’s eyes.
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Publishers Weekly
09/30/2013Lester’s 2005 journey to Antarctica’s Mawson Station inspired this informative story of a fictional expedition, chronicled through the affable diary entries of a girl named Sophie. The nine-year-old accompanies her father, captain of an Australian icebreaker carrying scientists and supplies to this remote research center. Sophie’s chatty account of life on board the ship reveals a flair for description: “The dining-room portholes go underwater every time the ship does a big roll. It’s like we’re eating inside a washing machine.” Sophie also offers enthusiastic observations of the natural world, as she spots exotically shaped icebergs; penguins, seals, and whales; and the Southern Lights. Graphically, Lester (Noni the Pony) mixes it up, meshing factual illustrations (a cross-section view of the ship, a look at how icebergs are formed) and lighthearted images (the ship’s crew pictured as cut-paper doll chains, penguins wearing bow ties). Photos of Lester’s own Antarctica trip are incorporated throughout, along with pictures that children drew in response to e-mails she sent to schools and families about her voyage. Endpapers packed with historic, geographic, and scientific statistics provide additional info about the continent. Ages 6–9. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
"Told from a welcome, fresh perspective."
—Kirkus
"Inquisitive readers eager to learn about the most mysterious corners of the planet will love this glimpse into near-uncharted territory."
—Booklist, starred review
"Sophie offers enthusiastic observations of the natural world, as she spots exotically shaped icebergs; penguins, seals, and whales; and the Southern Lights. . . . Endpapers packed with historic, geographic, and scientific statistics provide additional info about the continent."
—Publishers Weekly
"Reminiscent of Webb's My Season with Penguins but for a slightly younger crowd, Sophie Scott's journal will draw readers in to the wonders of our most remote continent."
—The Horn Book Magazine
"[A] stimulating, well-integrated mixture of text and images. . . There is great child appeal in the images, harsh conditions, and survival strategies, as well as in the behavior of animals."
—School Library Journal
School Library Journal
12/01/2013K-Gr 4—In this stimulating, well-integrated mixture of text and images, a fictional nine-year-old accompanies her dad, the captain of the Aurora Australis, as he delivers people and supplies to Mawson Station in Antarctica. Lester based the book on her own six-week excursion on the vessel. She combines sketches and paintings of Sophie-peeking out from her curtained berth or finding her way back to the station in a blizzard using rope-with rubber stamps, photographs, and art by children, received in response to emails she sent during her journey. Sophie's journal entries make up the text. There is great child appeal in the images, harsh conditions, and survival strategies, as well as in the behavior of animals. Diagrams depict ship parts and how icebergs are made; captioned postage stamps describe the fates of four early explorers. Occasional sequential photographs, sometimes grouped as 20 to 25 rectangles to a page, reveal the multiple moods of icebergs and sunsets and convey the sense that this adventure really happened. Endpapers contain geographical and historical tidbits and maps, first with a traditional view, where Antarctica is the southern-most point, and then an aerial view. This subject matter is similar to Sophie Webb's My Season With Penguins (Houghton Harcourt, 2000) and Jennifer Owings Dewey's Antarctic Journal (HarperCollins, 2001), though both of those volumes are rather dense for the picture-book format.—Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library
Kirkus Reviews
2013-10-01A fictionalized personal narrative, based on the author's own journey, that chronicles a little girl's expedition to Antarctica. Sophie's father is the captain of the Aurora Australis, an icebreaker that travels to Mawson Station to deliver supplies and transport scientists and other researchers. On this last trip before winter makes the sea impassable, 9-year-old Sophie is invited along. In diary format, she explores the giant red ship and keeps a sharp eye out for penguins, seals, whales and, of course, icebergs. After 13 days, the Aurora Australis finally reaches its destination. At the research station, Sophie follows ropes to different buildings (helpful during the blizzard she gets caught in!) and learns how to live on Antarctica. After a few days, she makes the return trip back home. Interspersed with Lester's thin line drawings of Sophie and the crew are actual photographs of the icebreaker and its surroundings. Lester also includes illustrations from Kids Antarctic Art, a traveling exhibition where students from around the world share their artistic interpretations of this cold, icy continent. A novel approach that may seem cluttered at times but packs in plenty of facts, history and interesting tidbits and is told from a welcome, fresh perspective. (maps, glossary) (Picture book. 6-9)