Corpse Talk: Ground-Breaking Explorers

The ‘Corpse Talk’ series is incredibly popular at school, with a constant stream of children waiting to borrow the next title as soon as it is returned. Accessible and entertaining, the format is perfect for introducing children to figures from history. With previous collections about royalty, authors, rebels and scientists, many of the biographies included are perfect for supporting learning across the curriculum.

‘Explorers’ is the latest book in the series, offering a fantastic range of adventurous men and women and their achievements. With explorers a popular thematic study for KS2 history, the biographies here both support and extend children’s learning in this area. Shackleton is also a popular figure with William Grill’s ‘Shackleton’s Journey’ often being used as a key text in Year 6. The ‘interview’ in this book could easily be used alongside this- or simply made available for children to read at their leisure.

Although told in graphic format, the text used is challenging, clearly alleviating any concerns which might be held about using this type of text in school. The book seeks to question and clarify possible preconceptions and misconceptions which are held about some of these figures, discussing the ‘violence, disease and exploitation’ which accompanied many of these explorers’ activities and rightly challenging commonly held ‘facts’ about Columbus and others. The final pages show the route of each explorer on a map. ‘Explorers’ would make an enjoyable guided reading text as well as a perfect addition to the library.

Corpse Talk: Ground-Breaking Explorers Adam and Lisa Murphy

David Fickling Books ISBN: 978-1788452014