Race to the Frozen North: The Matthew Henson Story

by Catherine Johnson

Overview

“We made it!” I cried. “We’re here. The North Pole! We’re on top of the world! The first men ever to stand here in all of history.” 
 
When eleven-year-old Matthew Henson ran away from his cruel stepmother to find a new life in the big city, no one could have predicted that he would become the first man to reach the North Pole. With a little luck and a lot of hard work, Matthew found a life of adventure on the high seas and in the Arctic. But back home in America his achievements were largely overlooked because he was Black.

Race to the Frozen North tells his remarkable true story.

Union Square & Co.’s EVERYONE CAN BE A READER books are expertly written, thoughtfully designed with dyslexia-friendly fonts and paper tones, and carefully formatted to meet readers where they are with engaging stories that encourage reading success across a wide range of age and interest levels.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454954859
Publisher:	Union Square Kids
Publication date:	04/02/2024
Series:	Everyone Can Be a Reader Series
Edition description:	High readability
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	74,534
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	740L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Catherine Johnson is a screenwriter and bestselling author of several books for children and young adults. Race to the Frozen North is a perennial bestseller in the UK. Her acclaimed novel Sawbones won the Young Quills Award for historical fiction, and Catherine is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She currently lives in Hastings, England.

Editorial Reviews

03/25/2024

Though he was the first American to reach the North Pole during a 1909 expedition, Black explorer Matthew Henson (1866–1955) was largely excluded from accounts of the journey, a reality that Johnson (A Nest of Vipers) endeavors to rectify in this exciting introduction to a national hero. In brief first-person chapters, Johnson chronicles how 11-year-old Henson, born to sharecropper parents, fled from his abusive household seeking a better life. Plainspoken prose details physical altercations with his stepmother, who beat him with a stick that was “harder than hell and had sharp points that cut into my skin.” After arriving in Washington, D.C., Henson ran errands for a café owner before signing on as a cabin boy aboard the Katie Hines. Henson is 15 when he’s employed on the SS Kite, a steamship bound for the Arctic. While credit—and a presidential medal—was awarded to Naval officer Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (1856–1920) and company, it was Henson and Ikwah, the crew’s “Inuit guide,” who initially set foot at their destination. Johnson chronicles Henson’s adventures with the breakneck speed of an action film; smudged charcoal drawings by Hickey (The Christmas Doll) depict these experiences throughout. Ages 8–12. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Henson’s description of their repeated expeditions over the next 19 years and eventual success at reaching the North Pole in 1909 is thrillingly recounted . . . . By focusing on his action-packed expeditions, readers with dyslexia or those who don’t love reading will be captivated by Henson’s story, complete with Hickey's striking illustrations at the bottom of the pages.”—Booklist

"Johnson chronicles Henson’s adventures with the breakneck speed of an action film."—Publishers Weekly
 

From the Publisher