The North Pole

Fully-illustrated and with a fun and innovative flip-book format, the book provides the perfect way to explore and compare the extreme environments of the two Poles. Take a trip to the ends of the earth and discover the extreme environments of the North and South Poles. Find out which animals live where, what the weather and climate is like and the effect global warming is having. Beginning with the North Pole, the book introduces the geography and climate of the Arctic. Readers will discover how climate change is affecting sea ice and why multi-year ice is so important to walruses and polar bears. Find out what ice floes are and what lives under the ice. The many uses of the Arctic are explained, from the home it provides to whale hunters to the rocket and missile test sites it houses. And then flip the book over and you arrive in the South Pole... The famous race to reach the pole in 1911 is retold and readers will discover why the orca is the ultimate polar predator. The huge tabular icebergs, sub-glacial lakes, and ice chimneys of the Antarctic are brought to life in all their impressive glory, not to mention the sea spiders, 'death star' starfish and other undersea giants!

Want to Know books are informative picture books that answer the questions of young children. Some subjects are familiar to them, others are less familiar. The books deal with the world and the environment around us, with our past and present. In a playful and clever way, these books tell children what they want to know. Do you want to know everything about the North and the South Poles? This book tells you what they are, and what they look like. You ll find out about the animals and people who live there, and what they do. The book also contains a fun activity, a verse, a big foldout page and a mini-quiz, so that you can become a real expert. An informative, interactive picture book for children ages 5 and up about the WOW elements of the world, the North and South Poles."

The first two attempts to reach this remote and frigid outpost by air are examined, starting with a failed balloon attempt by a Swedish engineer in 1897. 31 illustrations.

Young armchair adventurers can travel to the topmost point on the globe and learn all about the vast region surrounding the North Pole. From the #1 New York Times Best-Selling Who Was? series comes Where Is?, a series that tells the stories of world-famous landmarks and natural wonders and features a fold-out map! It might seem lonely at the top of the world, but the North Pole is teeming with life! Polar bears, walruses, and arctic seals make their home on sea ice that can be nine feet thick while the Inuit and other indigenous peoples continue their traditions and means for survival in this harsh climate. Along with the early twentieth-century story of Robert Peary’s egomaniacal quest to reach the exact spot of the North Pole, this is an exciting new addition to the Where Is? series.

It may not be inapt to liken the attainment of the North Pole to the winning of a game of chess, in which all the various moves leading to a favorable conclusion had been planned in advance, long before the actual game began. It was an old game for me—a game which I had been playing for twenty-three years, with varying fortunes. Always, it is true, I had been beaten, but with every defeat came fresh knowledge of the game, its intricacies, its difficulties, its subtleties, and with every fresh attempt success came a trifle nearer; what had before appeared either impossible, or, at the best, extremely dubious, began to take on an aspect of possibility, and, at last, even of probability. Every defeat was analyzed as to its causes in all their bearings, until it became possible to believe that those causes could in future be guarded against and that, with a fair amount of good fortune, the losing game of nearly a quarter of a century could be turned into one final, complete success. It is true that with this conclusion many well informed and intelligent persons saw fit to differ. But many others shared my views and gave without stint their sympathy and their help, and now, in the end, one of my greatest unalloyed pleasures is to know that their confidence, subjected as it was to many trials, was not misplaced, that their trust, their belief in me and in the mission to which the best years of my life have been given, have been abundantly justified. But while it is true that so far as plan and method are concerned the discovery of the North Pole may fairly be likened to a game of chess, there is, of course, this obvious difference: in chess, brains are matched against brains. In the quest of the Pole it was a struggle of human brains and persistence against the blind, brute forces of the elements of primeval matter, acting often under laws and impulses almost unknown or but little understood by us, and thus many times seemingly capricious, freaky, not to be foretold with any degree of certainty. For this reason, while it was possible to plan, before the hour of sailing from New York, the principal moves of the attack upon the frozen North, it was not possible to anticipate all of the moves of the adversary. Had this been possible, my expedition of 1905-1906, which established the then "farthest north" record of 87° 6´, would have reached the Pole. But everybody familiar with the records of that expedition knows that its complete success was frustrated by one of those unforeseen moves of our great adversary—in that a season of unusually violent and continued winds disrupted the polar pack, separating me from my supporting parties, with insufficient supplies, so that, when almost within striking distance of the goal, it was necessary to turn back because of the imminent peril of starvation. When victory seemed at last almost within reach, I was blocked by a move which could not possibly have been foreseen, and which, when I encountered it, I was helpless to meet. And, as is well known, I and those with me were not only checkmated but very nearly lost our lives as well. But all that is now as a tale that is told. This time it is a different and perhaps a more inspiring story, though the records of gallant defeat are not without their inspiration. And the point which it seems fit to make in the beginning is that success crowned the efforts of years because strength came from repeated defeats, wisdom from earlier error, experience from inexperience, and determination from them all.

Santa's decision to take a winter vacation creates chaos at the North Pole and endangers Christmas.

Written by seasoned adventurer Tim Moss, comprehensive chapters take you through the details of each challenge or journey. If you're rowing an ocean where do you sleep at night? How do you go to the loo at sea? If you are cycling round the world precisely what difficulties will you face and how will you overcome them.

When a little polar bear named Peter finds Santa's red cap in the snow, he sets off to return it and along the way discovers a secret about Santa.