I didn’t think the topic of the book was particularly interesting; however, the way it was written made for a much more enjoyable read than would a book on an interesting subject presented dryly. On the negative side, the writer would interrupt a sentence to tell you some cool fact, but you would lose your train of thought.
    I liked the true presentation of the explorers’ characters. For example, the writer explained how Robert Perry (the first man to reach the North Pole) was a fame-seeking geek. As a kid, he told his mother, “Remember Mother, I must be famous.” I also really liked the old photographs.
    The activities were very fun, and quite a few of them were edible. Most of them require adult supervision for kids who aren’t comfortable using a knife or an electric drill. I didn’t like that some of the experiments called for weather and not a kitchen ingredient.
    I learned something from the book: there are lakes in Antarctica, there’s an active volcano in Antarctica, and a metal called magnese reacts with and helps eliminate carbon.
    The thing I would change about the book is to make it a hardcover and taller than it is wide so it fits on my bookshelf better. Otherwise, I think the book is great—it’s entertaining as well as scientific. One world I would use to describe the book is: cool. Out of a score of 10, I would give it an...11!

(Originally published in the Mar/Apr 2004 issue of YES Mag.)