A Mount Everest-Inspired Reading List
Mount Everest is a story in its own right, a mountain full of mystery, drama, and suspense. These books capture some of the thrills of the world’s highest mountain.
PHOTO: Luca Galuzzi / www.galuzzi.it
“Because it’s there.”
That’s the reason British climber George Mallory gave for his Mount Everest ascent attempt in 1924 — we don’t know whether he made it to the summit or not, but we know that it took 75 years to find his body, frozen in the snow on the legendary mountain’s north face.
There’s something about the world’s tallest mountain that makes it an irresistible challenge in spite of its many hazards — 381 climbing permits were issued by the summer of 2019, and 11 of those climbers died. Since it’s officially been a century since Sir Edmund Hillary became the first white man to make it to the summit of Everest and back down (assisted by 20 Sherpas led by Tenzing Norgay, who reached the summit with Hillary), this is the perfect time to add a little mountain adventure to your reading list.
Jon Krakauer brought Everest into pop culture with his memoir of the 1996 disaster in which climbers were stranded in a storm and eight people died. Krakauer points out the problem with Everest’s popularity: Too many inexperienced climbers can spell disaster when anything unexpected happens. But he also captures the thrill and drama of attempting the world’s highest peak with writing that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Steve Jenkins does a terrific job illuminating the specific challenges of an Everest expedition, from avalanches and frostbite, to extreme winds and limited oxygen. The cut paper illustrations, though, are the real star here, providing a detailed peek inside climbers’ backpacks, the area’s geography, and the mountain’s geology.
The sheer tension and beauty of the mountain climbing scenes are the highlight of this manga series about the lure and danger of Mount Everest. A photojournalist in 1990s Kathmandu discovers a camera that may have belonged to Mallory and sets off on an adventure to track down a contemporary daredevil climber and solve the mystery of Mallory’s attempt.
Gordon Korman's three-part adventure series would make more sense as a single book, but that fact aside, this is a gripping and suspenseful tale of four climbers competing to become to youngest person to successful scale Mount Everest. Naturally, there’s some natural disaster and sabotage to make things a little more complicated.
If you want to bring a little science into your Mount Everest studies, this volume delivers, giving a significant chunk of its attention to the effects of climate change on the world’s highest mountain.
Kids inspired by Everest will love the alphabetical breakdown of details in this guide by an Everest climber that includes plenty of details for the armchair climber (including gruesome details like what real-life frostbite looks like) and the can’t-wait-to-get-started enthusiast. (Start with the trees in your own backyard.)
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.) This was originally published in the summer 2019 issue of HSL.
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