The White Darkness

Bibliographic Info

Title: The White Darkness

Author: Geraldine McCaughrean

Publisher: Harpertempest

Publication Date: 2005

ISBN: 978-0-06-089035-3

Plot Summary

Sym is awkward.  She trips over things.  She doesn’t care for boys like her friends do.  She even has a sort of imaginary friend.  Her entire life she’s studied and dreamed of Antarctica.  It’s an absolute thrill when her uncle Victor tells her that he’s planned to take them on a trip to the frozen continent.  Or is it?

Sym can’t seem to put a few things out of her mind, like that her mother was supposed to come on the trip (originally Victor said it was a weekend trip from England to France), but her mother’s missing passport left her stranded on the train platform.  Later Sym found the passport in her uncle’s shirt pocket.  Sym doesn’t know for sure if Victor told her mother about the change of travel destinations.  Sym also wonders how Victor funded the trip.  There are so many little questions that won’t stay quiet in the back of her mind.

As the trip goes on, the little questions begin to stack up, and then to unravel.  A whole lot of larger mysteries come to light, showing the unfathomable actions of a desperate and disturbed man.  Sym, awkward Sym, has to keep it all together if she wants to come out of the trip alive.

Critical Evaluation

The White Darkness is a phenomenal work.  The depth of Sym’s character, the complex weaving of the story, and the details, so surprising that they seem to spring out of the natural chaos of life make the book a masterpiece of fiction.

Reader’s Annotation

Sym can tell you the names of the mountains nearest the South Pole.  She can give you a list of the ten most common fatal mistakes that Antarctic explorers committed.  She can’t tell you what it’s like to kiss a boy.  When her uncle surprised Sym with a trip to Antarctica, she should be ecstatic, but something in the back of her mind knows it’s wrong, all of it.  Those tiny glimmers of recognition tell her nothing, though of the darkness that awaits her on the frozen continent.

Author Info

Geraldine McCaughrean was born June 6, 1951 and raised in North London.  She went to school at Christ Church College of Education in Canterbury.  She held many jobs before becoming a full time writer, including secretary, teacher, and journalist.

She has written around 150 books, mostly for children, but with some young adult novels as well.  She currently lives in Berkshire, England with her daughter and husband.

McCaughrean, G. (2006). Official Website of Geraldine McCaughrean. Retrieved April 14, 2010, from http://www.geraldinemccaughrean.co.uk/.

Genre

Adventure

Curriculum Ties

Social Studies/Health, related to understanding people with disabilities

Book Talking Ideas

Intuition.  Have you ever felt like something just wasn’t right, but had no idea why?

What if someone you trusted suddenly turned out to be mentally unstable?

Reading Level

12+

Challenge Issues

Mild Violence

Challenge Responses

Active listening

Refer to library’s collection policy

Provide complaint form

Refer to book reviews

Selection

ALA  Printz award winner