I've read quite a bit about polar exploration, including many viewpoints on those of Amundsen and Scott. When this book popped up on Amazon's "you might also like" list, I had to try it, even though I already knew what became of the Siberian ponies that Scott so ill-advisedly took along on his expedition. (I don't know why I put myself through these things. If this one's half as sob-inducing as Mrs. Chippy's Last Expedition, I'll need to have a box of tissues on hand... The book's written for kids age 9-12 or thereabouts, which means that some madly-in-love-with-horses kids are likely to stumble across it and, if they aren't warned about the historical background, will be devastated. Maybe I'll jot a cautionary note in the front of the book somewhere!)

Turns out it's well-written, using the pony's point of view for most of the story but interspersing third-person narrative to catch us up on the progress of both Scott's and Amundsen's expeditions. And while the anthropomorphism of the horse has him fretting over things in an all-too-human way, at the same time the author went to some trouble to learn about real-horse behavior, so even when our narrator wants to behave for the sake of his trusted humans, he's easily spooked into lunging or kicking at times. He's also far from the strongest of the ponies, a fact that upsets him - and which makes him glad when other ponies are even weaker, not a very sympathetic trait but an understandable one.

We get a detailed look at the expedition from a pony's eye view, and even though the author explains having merged several events (and placed our pony on the scene of others to which the real pony was not a participant), the overall sequence of events is realistic, and even the most dramatic events (the killer-whale attacks on the ice floes, the horses lost in those floes) are quite true.

Even knowing how things would turn out, I found myself getting quite teary by the end - and even the hopeful note of a clean, snowy paradise for a winter-loving Siberian pony didn't quite make me feel better. An effective story, though very sad...

I left this book on a bench in Mack Plaza at Market and Shattuck streets, near the fountain with the statue of the Irish laborer. (Since Irishman Tom Crean is a major force in the tale of Scott's expedition, I thought this suitable.) Hope the finder enjoys the book!

*** Released for the 2014 You're Such an Animal release challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2014 Travel release challenge. ***