Books in World's Great Explorers series

This title introduces readers to Jacques Cousteau, the great explorer who introduced millions of people to the undersea world from his ship the Calypso. Cousteau's life story is examined from his childhood to his marriage and his education at the French Naval Academy and his service in the French Navy and World War II. Cousteau's collaboration with engineer Emile Gagnan is included, including their invention of the Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus or SCUBA system, as is his invention of the underwater camera. Cousteau's film work is examined, including his Academy Award-winning films The Silent World (1956) and World Without Sun (1964), as is his famous series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo & Daughters is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

After two years of training with the British Mount Everest Expedition, Edmund Hillary, along with Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, completed the challenging climb to become the first men to reach the summit of the world's highest peak, Mount Everest, on May 29, 1953. But this historic achievement didn't mean the end of Hillary's adventures. In 1955, he led a party across Antarctica by snow tractor, pioneering a new route to the South Pole. Hillary followed this up by leading several expeditions to the Himalayas, and establishing the Himalayan Trust, which has funded more than 30 schools in Nepal, as well as hospitals, medical clinics, and airstrips. Knighted by Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain, Hillary was also granted honorary citizenship in Nepal. In Sir Edmund Hillary, learn about this daring explorer and his accomplishments.

Looking out from his ship, Captain James Cook saw a field of ice disappearing into the horizon. Cook and his crew had crossed the Antarctic Circle in search of a mythical Southern Continent, but could proceed no farther. Captain Cook had sailed thousands of miles on the Pacific Ocean, exploring many Pacific islands like Hawaii, Australia, and New Zealand. He made charts that would be used into the twentieth century and proved no mythical continent existed. Author Stephen Feinstein examines the life of this famed British explorer.

After trekking over four thousand miles, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the Corps of Discovery sighted the Pacific Ocean. The two great explorers carved their names on trees to prove that U.S. military officers had reached the Pacific by land. Lewis and Clark failed to achieve their ultimate goal of finding a direct water route across the continent. However, the explorers discovered numerous animal and plant species unknown to western science, mapped uncharted territory, interacted with many American Indian nations, and helped open up the West for American expansion.

Sir Francis Drake rose from humble beginnings on an English farm to become one of the country's most widely acclaimed heroes. As a result of his early exploits at what amounted to piracy in the Caribbean, he acquired great wealth and fame. He became a confidant of Queen Elizabeth I, a terror to the king of Spain, and an admiral in the navy that defeated the mighty Spanish Armada. As an explorer, Drake was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world--the second ever to do so after Magellan--and his voyages uncovered much about the western coast of the Americas, the Pacific Northwest, the Pacific Ocean, and Cape Horn. Read in Sir Francis Drake how this man's career opened the way for more exploration by the English and was part of the foundation of British naval power.