Black Whiteness: Admiral Byrd Alone in the Antarctic - Hardcover

Burleigh, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 068981299X ISBN 13: 9780689812996

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1998

Synopsis

Presents the fascinating story of a great American explorer, Admiral Richard Byrd, who wrote about his experiences during a season spent alone in a small cabin in the Antarctic.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert Burleigh is the award-winning author of many books for children, including, Hoops, a SLJ Best Book of the Year and a Booklist Editor's Choice, Lookin' for Bird in the Big City which received the New York Society Library Award for the best children's book of the year, and Toulouse-Lautrec: The Moulin Rouge and the City of Light which was an ALA Notable Book. His many other books include Stealing Home, Clang! Clang! Beep! Beep! and By My Brother's Side, for which he was a contributing author.  He lives in Michigan.

Walter Lyon Krudop was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1966. He had his first painting lesson when he was eight years old and later studied illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He has illustrated a number of books for young readers, including The Good-Night Kiss and Wake Up, Little Children by Jim Aylesworth; Black Whiteness by Robert Burleigh; and Crossing the Delaware by Louise Peacock. He lives with his wife, Sara, in New York City.

From Booklist:

Gr. 4 and up. The author of several previous picture-book biographies, among them, Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh (1991), offers a stunning profile of determination, stubbornness, and courage that is also a slice of real history. In restrained, lyrical prose ("Night is coming on, / Pressing down with its blue-black shadow"), Burleigh surely and sharply pits a man against the elements as he recounts the solitary vigil of Admiral Richard Byrd, who lived for months alone in a small underground structure, sending back information on Antarctica's weather and testing the boundaries of human endurance. Selections from Byrd's diary, which appear in cursive, add immediacy and depth to the account, which eventually turns into a riveting survival story after Byrd falls gravely ill with little hope of rescue. The evocative, perfectly modulated text will be wonderful for reading aloud--even high-schoolers will be enthralled--and the oxymoron in the title is a great introduction to the way Burleigh paints mesmerizing word pictures on the page. Krudop's spare but saturated oil paintings perfectly catch the two extremes of Byrd's lonely existence--the shimmery blue of the antarctic climate Byrd both relished and feared; the golden glow of the poorly heated shelter that kept both his body and his spirit alive. Sketches in ice blue ink are less dramatic than the oils but serve to add visual interest to the text pages. What is it like to be alone and near death? Burleigh brings the feelings uncomfortably close to home. Readers will be fascinated by the words and want to know more about this unusual man. Stephanie Zvirin

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 068981299X
• ISBN 13: 9780689812996
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Krudop Walter Lyon