Marooned in the Arctic by Peggy Caravantes

After Johnson's rescue, she was briefly covered in the press but spent the rest of her life in relative obscurity and poverty. Their treatment of her was questionable: on one occasion, they tied her to the flagpole for not working. Johnson is mentioned briefly, with the men stating whether she is acting as expected, behaving strangely, or refusing to work. The narrative covers why Vilhjalmur Stefansson sent the expedition to the island and the party's exploration and fight for survival. Although Johnson is supposed to be the focus of the book, most information on her is from secondary sources, and the few entries from her diary featured are brief and factual. Ada Blackjack Johnson accompanied the men, acting as their cook and seamstress to earn money to care for her sick son. Gr 7 Up-Caravantes provides an account of the ill-fated 1921 Wrangel Island expedition (in which explorers were sent to claim the land for Canada), relying mostly on the notes and journals of Milton Galle, Lorne Knight, Allan Crawford, and Frederick Maurer. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. With excerpts from diaries, letters, and telegrams historic photos a map source notes and a bibliography, this is an indispensible resource for any young adventure lover, classroom, or library. After she was finally rescued in August 1923, after two years total on the island, Ada became a celebrity, with newspapers calling her a real “female Robinson Crusoe.” The first young adult book about Blackjack’s remarkable story, Marooned in the Arctic includes sidebars on relevant topics of interest to teens, including the use cats on ships, the phenomenon known as Arctic hysteria, and aspects of Inuit culture and beliefs. Determined to be reunited with her son, Ada learned to survive alone in the icy world by trapping foxes, catching seals, and avoiding polar bears. Three of the men tried to cross the frozen Chukchi Sea for help but were never seen again, leaving Ada with one remaining team member who soon died of scurvy. Conditions soon turned dire for the team when they were unable to kill enough game to survive. With the men was a young Inuit woman named Ada Blackjack, who had signed on as cook and seamstress to earn money to care for her sick son. In 1921, four men ventured into the Arctic for a top-secret expedition: an attempt to claim uninhabited Wrangel Island in northern Siberia for Great Britain.

A Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People 2017

Marooned in the Arctic by Peggy Caravantes