Everest: Reaching the Roof of the World

Part of the Incredible True Stories series from Barrington Stoke that also includes Survival in Space: The Apollo 13 Mission, Tragedy at Sea: The Sinking of the Titanic and Tutankhamun’s Treasure: Discovering the Secret Tomb of Egypt’s Ancient King, this is a fascinating and well-told story of the missions to climb Everest, ending with Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s famous achievement of reaching the summit in 1953.

However, instead of just focusing on Norgay and Hillary’s mission, author David Long takes readers through other attempts on Everest, such as that of Colonel John Hunt’s expedition just before Hillary’s, and of the attempts to conquer Everest before that. Looking at why mountain climbing can be so difficult, the ways that equipment helped mountaineers and the role of the Sherpas in supporting European climbers, Long gives children a deeper understanding of how climbing somewhere like Everest works.

Long is an excellent nonfiction author and has a talent for explaining factual information in an interesting and clear way for children, and this book is a nice, short read, produced using Barrington Stoke’s signature cream paper and dyslexia-friendly font. It’s a really interesting book, perfect for school libraries or primary school aged children who enjoy history and nonfiction.