Janice Marriott

The voyage of the James Caird was a small-boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean, a distance of 1,300 km (800 mi). Undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions, it aimed to obtain rescue for the main body of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917, which was stranded on Elephant Island after the loss of its ship Endurance. Polar historians regard the voyage as one of the greatest small-boat journeys ever completed.

Surviving a series of dangers, including a near capsizing, the boat reached the southern coast of South Georgia after a voyage lasting 16 days. Shackleton and two companions then crossed the island's mountainous interior to reach a whaling station on the northern side.

The whaling station, was now just a mile and a half away. They tried to smarten themselves up a little bit before entering the station, but their beards were long, their hair was matted, their clothes, tattered and stained as they hadn't been washed in nearly a year. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon of May 20th 1916, they walked into the outskirts of Stromness whaling station, as they approached the station, two small boys met them.

Shackleton wrote; "Down we hurried, and when quite close to the station we met two small boys ten or twelve years of age. I asked these lads where the manager's house was situated. They did not answer. They gave us one look—a comprehensive look that did not need to be repeated. Then they ran from us as fast as their legs would carry them."

Thor’s Tale is an account of the lives of those two boys, and of the effect that the meeting with the explorers had on them. Told from 11-year-old whaling station hand Thor's perspective. Shackleton and crew on the Endeavour arrive at South Georgia. Adventure, historic, whaling, explorers. Good.… (more)

o Summary of content/review: This book follows the fictional, yet historically accurate, lives of siblings that are forced to leave their homes once their town is invaded by soldiers.
o Evaluation: This story incorporates the use of similies often throughout each chapter. The use of the similies highlights the suffering and fear in the children, as they face a cold and unstable world alone.
o Target audience: 5th-6th grades
o Connection to classroom: I would use this text when discussing how to write in first person and point of view. The book is written in a first person narrative format, making this a valuable mentor text in a classroom.

CC Standards: RL.6.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

Classification:Theme Bin 1: Overcoming adversity/facing challenges… (more)

2 women who were at Gisborne Girls High together [NZ], meet at a reunion and decide to keep in touch as they have 2 main things in common - devotion to their gardens and a great personal loss. Janice is a Wn city dweller working in publishing and is already an established author for children and education. Virginia Pawsey, her friend is a farmer in North Canterbury. They both write well and entertainingly of their struggles to keep plants alive and to be able to provide a fair amount of what they eat from their own gardens. They don't reveal a great deal of their mourning for lost loved ones but talk about their memorials and a little on how they cope. They mainly reveal how persistent they are and doggedly continue life and gardening with joy and optimism. If you don't know much about gardening and plants you won't enjoy this but there are some good recipes too.
There are some very good photos of both gardens in the online archive of NZ House & Garden, one is marked High- Country History http://www.nzhouseandgarden.co.nz/Articles/High-countryHistory.asp
and the other is Fertile Ground
http://www.nzhouseandgarden.co.nz/Articles/FertileGround.asp
sadly there are none in the book.
Janice Marriott also has her own website.… (more)