The Indestructible Tom Crean

Picture biography, 56 pages. Audience: 4 - 8 years. Published by Viking Books for Young Readers in 2023.

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Excellent Attributes

Tom Crean was a British  Royal Navy seaman and a crew member on three of Britain's Antarctica expeditions:

• 1901 - 1910 Discovery Expedition
• 1911 - 1913 Terra Nova Expedition
• 1914 - 1917 Endurance Expedition

Crean did not write a memoir or give lectures regarding his adventures, but retired from the Royal Navy in 1920. He returned home to County Kerry, Ireland to open a pub called South Pole Inn - which still exists today.

The naval officers, scientists and explorers who did write and speak about the expeditions noted Crean was loyal, courageous, and physically strong with a keen sense of humor - excellent attributes for a hero or heroine!

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Making it Real

Visiting Antarctica is not something most of us can do. But the web is filled with reliable and safe resources for information and activities centered on learning about the continent and its flora and fauna. And there are plenty of resources if your kiddo is interested in explorers:

• The Polar Museum offers a number of activities for 7 - 11 year olds including penguin origami, publishing a polar expedition newspaper, and making a fabric narwhal.
• Antarctica: Tales from the End of the World, Nature Documentary
• BBC has a phenomenal article with many pictures to interest children about the ship Endurance - the ship lost in the Antarctica was discovered in 2022! Endurance: Shackelton's Lost Ship is Found in the Antarctic, BBC News.

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