Tiger of the Snows: Tenzing Norgay: The Boy Whose Dream Was Everest (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Tiger of the Snows: Tenzing Norgay: The Boy Whose Dream Was Everest Deborah Stevenson Burleigh, Robert Tiger of the Snows: Tenzing Norgay: The Boy Whose Dream Was Everest; illus. by Ed Young. Atheneum, 200640p ISBN 0-689-83042-4$16.95 R Gr. 3-6 In Black Whiteness (BCCB 2/98), Burleigh drew on explorer Robert Byrd's diaries to tell of his winter alone in Antarctica; here he treats a different explorer, Tenzing Norgay, who guided Edmund Hillary to the top of Everest, making them the first two people to stand on the mountain's pinnacle. The lyrical, impressionistic text, with a sequence of short ragged-right phrases delimited by commas, suggests free verse as it briefly describes Tenzing's youthful dreams of Chomolungma (the Sherpa name for Everest) and his education in climbing and then focuses on the grueling last day of the Everest climb from the last camp to the summit. The imagistic text is an unusual choice for such a concrete experience, but the style is appropriate to Burleigh's emphasis on the spiritual side of the climb (though details make clear that Burleigh is familiar with the facts of the expedition); Tenzing's relationship with the mountain is underscored by his periodic direct address to the peak ("Chomolungma, I am with you. I am with you always"). Young's panoramic oil pastels, most in three-quarter spreads, serve the snowy landscape well, conveying its grandeur and harshness (one stunning image shows the expedition as a tiny little ant-trail dwarfed by the forbidding peaks looming above); Tenzing himself comes into closer focus toward the end, especially in his evocative close-up portrait at his moment of triumph. It's refreshing to see an Everest book that focuses entirely on Tenzing rather than the more usually limned Hillary, and this is a compelling chronicle that encourages young audiences to think not only about the physical feat but its meaning for the person performing it; it would therefore pair particularly well with Steve Jenkins' On Top of the World (BCCB 4/99). Burleigh's afterword gives a little more explanation of the climb and Tenzing Norgay's towering stature among Asians; an appreciative and affectionate note from Tenzing's son, who also summited Everest, appears on the back cover. Copyright © 2006 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois