World Explorers--You Gotta Love 'em

   When I saw Doraine Bennett's new book, Readers Theater for Global Explorers, the first thing I wanted to know--what possessed those people?  While most of us sit at home in front of the fire, explorers go off to the jungle, the wilderness, the desert, the moon!
  Doraine was sweet enough to let me be part of her blog tour to introduce this wonderful resource for teachers, so I asked her, did you discover common traits among these explorers?  Did she ever!
 
"Many were ruthless, many were arrogant, most wanted fame, despite any stated noble reasons for their activities. All had the ability to endure hardship beyond anything most of us could imagine. The determination to press through almost any difficulty, no matter how distressing the extremes of climate and circumstance."

Do you have a favorite person in the book?  

"I really liked Sir Ernest Shackleton because he was a decent, kind man. He gave his mittens to one of his crewmen who had lost his in the ocean. Shackleton suffered frostbite as a result. He was capable, daring, and a good leader, as well."

I guess it's no surprise most of these explorers were men. But Doraine did a great job of finding a range of women to include, like Mary Kinglsey, a writer! 

Oh. A writer that left her home in England to explore Africa.

"After living a very sheltered life, she set off alone for Africa. She went to the villages of the Fang (fong) people who were known to be cannibals. Most European explorers considered the Africans to be unintelligent beings who needed civilizing. Mary  respected the Africans and did much to change European thinking about them." 

Social studies will never be boring with this book. Inside everybody is sure to find at least one explorer that will catch his or her imagination. 

Thanks for visiting Doraine!  

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