The Impossible Voyage of Kon-Tiki - Hardcover

Ray, Deborah Kogan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1580896200 ISBN 13: 9781580896207

Publisher: Charlesbridge, 2015

Synopsis

Combining history with culture, the ocean with exploration, and risk with triumph—this rich offering is the only picture book account of Thor Heyerdahl's world-famous Kon-Tiki expedition, during which he sailed a raft 5,000 miles from the coast of South America to the islands of the South Pacific.

Author Deborah Kogan Ray clearly and succinctly sets up how Norwegian anthropologist Heyerdahl became convinced that ancient Peruvians arrived in the South Pacific via raft, why he wanted to re-create the voyage, and how he planned for it. She uses primary-source quotations on each spread to shore up the factual history of the events portrayed in the book. Her illustrations add emotion to this harrowing journey.

About this title

About the Author

Deborah Kogan Ray has illustrated many books for children and particularly enjoys depicting the natural world as she did in such books as Apple Picking Time (Crown) and Jackrabbit (Crown). She lives near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Reviews

Gr 2–5—Using concrete language and evocative watercolors, Ray tells the story of anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 voyage to prove his hypothesis that the ancient people of Peru traveled by raft to settle in Polynesia. Heyerdahl and his five-man crew sailed on the Kon-Tiki, a raft made of hemp and balsa wood that was named for an ancient Incan god. Their equipment consisted of a sextant, shortwave radios, and cameras to document their travels, and they subsisted mostly on fish. This extraordinary 101-day passage began at a harbor near Lima, Peru, and ended on an uninhabited island in Polynesia. Excerpts from Heyerdahl's own descriptions of frightening storms and calm and lonely days at sea appear in bold type on almost every page and greatly enhance the author's slightly dry narrative. A colorful map of the voyage on the endpapers complements the text. A short section, "Aftermath of the Impossible Voyage," explains that Heyerdahl and the crew were hailed as heroes for proving that a primitive craft could cross the Pacific Ocean—but recent DNA studies have not proven the Heyerdahl theory. A one-page biography of Heyerdahl is appended. VERDICT An intriguing and useful account of a remarkable journey.—Jackie Gropman, formerly at Chantilly Regional Library, VA

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

“Impossible!” declared the famous professor, shaking his head at Thor Heyerdahl.
            It was not the first time the young Norwegian anthropologist had received such a response to his research project. He had arrived in New York City hopeful that scholars would be open to his theory that ancient Incans from South America had voyaged by raft to the islands of the South Pacific. But despite the evidence he presented, his idea was dismissed as speculation.
            “Are you willing to try a forty-three-hundred-mile ocean trip on a primitive wooden raft to prove it can be done?” asked the professor, chuckling.

Edition details

• Publisher: Charlesbridge
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1580896200
• ISBN 13: 9781580896207
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Ray Deborah Kogan
• Number of pages: 40