Eve of the Emperor Penguin (Magic Tree House Series #40) by Mary Pope Osborne

Eve of the Emperor Penguin by Mary Pope Osborne is the 40th book in the Magic Tree House Series. In this book, Jack and Annie have to find the 4th secret of happiness for Merlin before he fades away from his sadness. Their adventure takes them to Antarctica where they search for the "ancient crown" in and around a live volcano, Mount Erebus. What they find will both shock and amaze you! They must return to Camelot with all 4 secrets of happiness before the day ends in order to save Merlin. Will they make it in time?

Believe it or not, this was the first Magic Tree House book I've ever read! I read it with my son for his school's Read-a-Thon. I really liked the adventure and the positive messages in the story. I also liked the facts page at the end, describing what it's really like in Antarctica. There are so many books in this series, I think we'll be able to find good books to share for quite some time!

Shackleton's Stowaway by Victoria McKernan

Shackleton's Stowaway by Victoria McKernan is about Perce, a stowaway on Ernest Shackleton's ship, the Endurance, during the 1914-1916 antarctic expedition. Just one month after setting out on their expedition, the ship is enclosed in ice. Eventually, all 28 men have to abandon the ship to live on an ice floe. They watch the ship sink before their eyes. They use three life rafts to get to Elephant Island (barely). Shackleton decides that he needs to go for help if they will have any hope at all. He takes a team of 6 in the only remaining life raft and heads toward South Georgia Island, the place from which they left nearly two years before. Perce, through all of this, works hard at every job he's assigned. He chips ice away from the ship, works in the galley, tends to the sled dogs and even rows the life rafts. By the time they are rescued (after four failed attampts by Shackleton's team), all of the men are in tough shape. Every single one of them makes it home from Antarctica, however!

This book is based on a true story. All of the events in the story actually took place. Victoria McKernan made up some of the dialogue and moved time around a bit to make it a good novel. She used the sailors' journals and interviews with remaining family members to support her work of historical fiction. I loved this book. It was exciting, funny, heartbreaking, suspenseful, and touching. I found that I was really pulling for the men, but Perce especially, as they found ways to work through this disasterous experience. This is one of the 2008-2009 Maud Hart Lovelace Nominees.