Amundsen’s Way: The Race to the South Pole
Joanna Grochowicz
Allen & Unwin
2022

April 26, 2022

A race to the southernmost point, with a latitude of 90 degrees, the South Pole. With the British team close behind, Roald Amundsen and his team of Norwegian explorers set off to make history.

Amundsen’s Way: The Race to the South Pole is an incredible book written by Joanna Grochowicz. It follows Into the White: Scott’s Antarctic Odyssey, which is about the British expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott in the race to the South Pole.

Roald Amundsen has spent his whole life yearning to go on expeditions and make history. After years of planning to go to the North Pole, only to be beaten to it by Robert Peary or Frederick Cook (it is not certain who came first), he decides to put his planning into winning the race to the South Pole. Facing many dangers and obstacles on his expedition, he and his crew try to survive the harsh conditions in the South Pole.

The characters go through the struggles of confinement, overcoming obstacles and arguments over pride and leadership. This is easy to relate to, as these traits and situations are all things that most people go through multiple times throughout their lifetime.

In trying to reach his goal, Roald Amundsen was dishonest. He told his crew they were going north, not south, and deceived Captain Scott by not broadcasting his expedition to the world, to hopefully get ahead in the race. Amundsen was worried about how he would be perceived in history: for his daring deeds, his discipline or merely his deception?

This story is inspiring and relevant as people are constantly worried about how their actions will be viewed by others. Amundsen’s Way shows how you can ignore other people and follow what you want to do.

Grochowicz has written this book in a compelling way, helping the reader to connect to the characters and crew members on the expedition. Her way of telling Roald Amundsen’s story by closing in on all of the crew members’ feelings and experiences in the expedition really helps you to understand all their ups and downs.

I loved this book as it was really interesting to see how these explorers survived in such close confinement to each other and how they overcame their doubt to succeed in getting to the South Pole first. It is an incredible story on how Roald Amundsen made history.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in adventure and history, and it’s a must read for any future explorer.

• Hannah is 13 years old and lives in Auckland.