Two at the Top A Shared Dream

Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary each tell their story, culminating in their thrilling ascent of Mount Everest.

Tenzing Norgay grew up in Nepal, herding yaks in the shadow of Chomolungma, the mountain also known as Everest. He has always dreamed of climbing to the top. He becomes a guide, leading treks through the Himalayas, and finally attempts the highest mountain himself, but doesn’t make it. 

Across the ocean, in New Zealand, Edmund Hillary grew up tending his father’s bees. He climbed his first mountain at sixteen and has climbed all over the world ever since. He tries Everest, with no success.

In 1953, the two men set out on the same expedition to climb Everest. Their party numbers four hundred, counting all the guides and porters. But the climb is grueling, and eventually Norgay and Hillary are the only two determined to continue. They tramp over windswept glaciers, crawl across rope bridges, hack footholds in the ice … until finally they reach the top of the world!

This remarkable true adventure story, told in a dual narrative, includes illustrated backmatter rich in geography, history and science.

Key Text Features

author’s note

bibliography

facts

further reading

historical context

illustrations

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

UMA KRISHNASWAMI was born in India and now lives in Victoria, BC. Her Book Uncle trilogy includes the bestselling Book Uncle and Me, winner of the ILA Social Justice Literature Award, Birds on the Brain and The Sunshine Project. Her picture books include Look! Look! and Out of the Way! Out of the Way!, both illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy. She has been nominated twice for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Uma is faculty emerita in the Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

CHRISTOPHER CORR is an artist and illustrator living in London, England. He has illustrated books for both adults and children, including Two at the Top by Uma Krishnaswami and The Goggle-Eyed Goats by Stephen Davies. He is fascinated by folk stories from around the globe and has worked on books about India, Mexico, Madagascar, Mali, Burkina Faso, China and New York. He has produced work for the BBC, Folio Society, Habitat, IKEA, Qantas, Royal Mail and Unicef, and also holds gallery exhibitions.