Two At the Top: A Shared Dream of Everest

Uma Krishnaswami and Christopher Corr’s book, Two at the Top, provides young readers with an introduction to Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the two climbers credited with being the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest. The book is presented through the imagined first-person voices of the two men in question. Norgay’s words appear on the left-hand side of each double page spread while Hillary’s words appear on the right side. The two voices are also presented in a different font style.

The first thing the reader will notice is Corr’s bright illustrative colour choices. The vibrant use of colour in the gouache artwork is striking. While Corr is a trained, educated artist, his work is reflective of what is sometimes known as the naïve style of art. The artwork consists largely of broad brushstrokes, bold colour choices, and a general lack of fine details. It is a style that some young readers will find enticing. This reviewer’s preference, however, is for greater realism. More detail in the artwork (and in the written text) would have better served as an introduction to the climbers and the scale of these men’s accomplishment. It would also have served as a more fitting tribute to those men and that accomplishment.

Krishnaswami’s written text does little more than introduce readers to the two men who first scaled Everest’s slopes to the summit. Too much is left unsaid, and so the reader leaves feeling unsatisfied. Something as basic as how the two men from opposite sides of the globe met in the first place remains completely overlooked. The lack of detail ignores the dangers of the summit, at any time, let alone in that initial successful climb. The enormity of the accomplishment is undersold. More about Sherpas would add value and interest. There is ample room for more information about Sherpas and their lifestyles and their associations with the region and the mountain.

The style of Two at the Top diminishes the magnitude of what Norgay and Hillary achieved. The afterword, however, is considerably better. It is more informative and more interesting. Indeed, the best part of the book is the afterword, but it was unnecessary to wait until the afterword to add interesting details given the primary initial text lacked interest and detail. In the afterword, there is information about the tallest mountains, there is mention of who Mount Everest is named after, there is information about the team in which Norgay and Hillary belonged (that team included over 400 people and, indeed, was led by someone other than Edmund Hillary). This sort of interesting detail would have greatly enhanced the primary written text. The book has strengths. The writing has strengths. The artwork has strengths. Yet, all could have been so much better, even as an introductory text. On the final page, reference is made to “comparable books for young readers”—in other words, books readers can turn to in order to find out more. I know some of those books and, frankly, they are not comparable, but better. They are the books young people should be directed towards to find out more about Mount Everest and Norgay and Hillary climbing to the summit.