The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
Sym is a fourteen-year old girl that is obsessed wit Captain Oates, an army officer that perished in an expedition to the Antarctic. He has been her imaginary and secret confidant since her father's death. Uncle Victor has been taking care of Sym and her mother since her father's death. He has invited both of them to Paris and vacation there with him for a couple of days. At the train station, Sym's mom has lost her passport and cannot board the train that will take them to Paris. Sym and Uncle Victor make the trip without her and he proposes a slight change to their itinerary. He proposes they take a once in a lifetime trip to Antarctica. He assures her that her mom already knows and they head off the next day to their new destination. Once they get their, people start getting sick and the people in charge cut their vacation two weeks short. Everyone will be flown home that day in the airplane that visits them on a weekly basis. Without Sym finding out her uncles deceptive plans, he sets the airplane on fire and puts the group in a deep sleep with one of his famous teas. Bruch and Sigurd are in on the plan and help Uncle Victor steal a heavy, armored truck that is made to survive the icy terrain of Antarctica. He informs Sym on his true plan: he wants to be the first to discover Symme's Hole, an underground civilization at the center of the earth. He is sure of it since Bruch has shown him NASA pictures and has given him the exact coordinates. What Uncle Victor does not know is that Bruch and Sigurd have their plan of their own: make Uncle Victor believe that Symme's Hole exists and cash the check Uncle Victor had given them before he finds out they are con artists. On their way to Symme's Hole, everything becomes to unravel, Uncle Victor poisons Bruch and leaves him behind in the icy terrain and Sym find out that Uncle Victor murdered her father, caused her to lose her hearing, and is about to be sacrificed in Symme's Hole. Sigurd steals the truck and leaves them both behind to fend for themselves. Uncle Victor squeezes himself through a hole and falls to his death thinking it is Symme's Hole. Sym is now left alone with her imaginary Captain Oats and struggles to survive. On her way back to camp, she finds Sigurd and gets them both rescued by burning the truck down. This novel is about an insecure girl coming to young adulthood and discovering herself. She is not the awkward, shy teen that believed naively to everything her uncle said. She has come out of the Antarctic as a strong girl who is comfortable and sure of herself. This novel is about survival of the fittest and makes you think about what one is willing to sacrifice for the glory of discovering something new. I feel the books strength is that it gives great detail about the dangers in the Antarctic. It makes the story realistic as if you are their witnessing yourself. The books weakness is that it takes a long time before Sym realizes how wicked Uncle Victor really is even though she has been given many clues. Even though I was frustrated with Sym's naivety, I highly enjoyed this novel and feel that middle and upper grade students would too.
Sym is a fourteen-year old girl that is obsessed wit Captain Oates, an army officer that perished in an expedition to the Antarctic. He has been her imaginary and secret confidant since her father's death. Uncle Victor has been taking care of Sym and her mother since her father's death. He has invited both of them to Paris and vacation there with him for a couple of days. At the train station, Sym's mom has lost her passport and cannot board the train that will take them to Paris. Sym and Uncle Victor make the trip without her and he proposes a slight change to their itinerary. He proposes they take a once in a lifetime trip to Antarctica. He assures her that her mom already knows and they head off the next day to their new destination. Once they get their, people start getting sick and the people in charge cut their vacation two weeks short. Everyone will be flown home that day in the airplane that visits them on a weekly basis. Without Sym finding out her uncles deceptive plans, he sets the airplane on fire and puts the group in a deep sleep with one of his famous teas. Bruch and Sigurd are in on the plan and help Uncle Victor steal a heavy, armored truck that is made to survive the icy terrain of Antarctica. He informs Sym on his true plan: he wants to be the first to discover Symme's Hole, an underground civilization at the center of the earth. He is sure of it since Bruch has shown him NASA pictures and has given him the exact coordinates. What Uncle Victor does not know is that Bruch and Sigurd have their plan of their own: make Uncle Victor believe that Symme's Hole exists and cash the check Uncle Victor had given them before he finds out they are con artists. On their way to Symme's Hole, everything becomes to unravel, Uncle Victor poisons Bruch and leaves him behind in the icy terrain and Sym find out that Uncle Victor murdered her father, caused her to lose her hearing, and is about to be sacrificed in Symme's Hole. Sigurd steals the truck and leaves them both behind to fend for themselves. Uncle Victor squeezes himself through a hole and falls to his death thinking it is Symme's Hole. Sym is now left alone with her imaginary Captain Oats and struggles to survive. On her way back to camp, she finds Sigurd and gets them both rescued by burning the truck down. This novel is about an insecure girl coming to young adulthood and discovering herself. She is not the awkward, shy teen that believed naively to everything her uncle said. She has come out of the Antarctic as a strong girl who is comfortable and sure of herself. This novel is about survival of the fittest and makes you think about what one is willing to sacrifice for the glory of discovering something new. I feel the books strength is that it gives great detail about the dangers in the Antarctic. It makes the story realistic as if you are their witnessing yourself. The books weakness is that it takes a long time before Sym realizes how wicked Uncle Victor really is even though she has been given many clues. Even though I was frustrated with Sym's naivety, I highly enjoyed this novel and feel that middle and upper grade students would too.
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