This book tells the true story of authors and illustrators Alison Lester and Coral Tulloch’s journey into the southern seas and to Antarctica.

We begin as they feel apprehension about the trip. They will be on a ship in a vast ocean. Rescue will be far away if they strike trouble. But bravely and excitedly they board the big ice-breaking ship with six engines and make their way south.

The ocean makes the ship feel so tiny. As a storm hits, rolling the ship around floating ice, blocks of ice are tipped up onto the deck as if they are tiny cubes.

‘The light darkens as the ship slides down into the bowels of the swell, inside the deep green-black depths of the ocean …’

As they travel further south, daylight stretches further into the evening. They motor past ‘high blue cliffs’ and their imaginations fire. As they look at the icebergs, they see not just ice, but pyramids, opera houses, ships and lions.

As they reach the icy land they meet emperor penguins and experience a whiteout ‘when even birds couldn’t fly, as the frozen ocean, land and sky, merge into one white veil.’ They see the aurora which ‘swooped right over us in a wide band of neon green, then finished with a swirl.’ They walk on the ice feeling the loneliness, incredible beauty and vastness of the place.

They share with us history of humans who also made the journey over time. The book is peppered with tales of adventure and quotes from writers and travellers who have braved the seas to come to this place before them.

We feel their sense of wonder. Coral Tulloch says, ‘Where else in the world can you walk among animals that are not afraid of you.’ Alison Lester says, ‘Every day brought something new and incredible. That adventurous joy, the completely different world, the vastness – it’s all stayed with me as a reminder to treat the world as well as I can.’

The book is beautifully designed from its embossed cover to its photographic end pages. Its internal pages are lavishly illustrated with the author’s illustrations from sketches to watercolours to pen and ink drawings as well as photography and images of historical interest.

This book is a keeper. It’s terrific for any young reader, sure to inspire an interest in this most incredibly special place and encouraging us to do our best to protect it.

Perfect for the classroom or to pore over alone.

Reviewed by Emily Ross

Age Guide 8+