Keep On!: The Story of Matthew Henson, Co-Discoverer of the North Pole

by Deborah Hopkinson, Stephen Alcorn (Illustrator)

Overview

This stunning picture book offers a riveting account of African American explorer Matthew Henson's 1909 journey to the North Pole with Admiral Peary.


Matthew Henson was born just after the Civil War, a time when slavery had been abolished, but few opportunities were available for Black people. As a child, Henson exhibited a yearning for adventure, embarking at age thirteen on a five-year voyage sailing the seven seas.

But Henson's greatest adventure began when Robert Peary invited him to join an expedition to the North Pole. After many storms, injuries, and unimaginable cold, on April 1, Peary, Henson, and four Inuit men began the final 133-mile push to the Pole.


This fascinating tale from award-winning nonfiction author Deborah Hopkinson is paired with beautiful artwork from Stephen Alcorn. Perfect for Black history and exploration units.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781682633083
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	08/04/2020
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	36
Sales rank:	961,000
File size:	29 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Deborah Hopkinson grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts, and received a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts and an MA in Asian Studies from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. She is the author of more than seventy books for young readers, including picture book and middle grade fiction and nonfiction. She lives in Oregon with her family and a menagerie of pets.

Stephen Alcorn was born in the United States and grew up in Italy. A professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, he is an award-winning printmaker, portraitist, and illustrator of over fifty children's books, including Let it Shine, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. He lives in Virginia.

Editorial Reviews

Hopkinson's (Sweet Land of Liberty) tribute to Matthew Henson, the African-American explorer credited as being the "co-discoverer" (along with Admiral Robert Peary) of the North Pole in 1909, retells a story gaining traction among picture-book publishers, adding a few welcome embellishments. Henson's own descriptions of the pristine landscape and the Inuit people, who teach him about the "harsh, cold north," are peppered throughout Hopkinson's sturdy prose, while Alcorn's (Yours for Justice, Ida B. Wells) characteristically stylized illustrations range from images of classic Americana to organic figures in motion against collage-like backdrops of wild weather. In one detail, sled dogs run skyward, like Santa's reindeer, past what we can assume to be northern lights; elsewhere, wind gusts against the explorers in curling, curving lines. Though Henson emerges as idealized, Hopkinson's description of him as "experienced, resourceful, brave" comes across as well deserved. Ages 6-10. (Jan.)

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Publishers Weekly

Gr 2-5

This strikingly illustrated picture book tells of the life of a man whose achievements were, until recently, largely overlooked. An African American who was orphaned at age 13, Henson spent his adolescence as a cabin boy and then started working as Robert E. Peary's assistant. After 18 years of exploration, he became much more than an assistant to Peary and was ultimately a vital codiscoverer of the North Pole in 1909. Written in articulate and straightforward prose, and accompanied by quotes from Henson, Keep On! tells the story of an inspiring and courageous figure and is enhanced by Alcorn's dramatic, sweeping scenes.-Sarah O'Holla, Village Community School, New York City

School Library Journal

"Matt was born in 1866, just after the Civil War, at a time when poor black boys like him had few chances to roam the next county, to say nothing of another country, the seven seas, or the top of the world." Nevertheless, he went on to do all of those things, first serving on a China trader and later joining Robert E. Peary in the Arctic explorations that culminated in their reaching the North Pole. Timed to the 100th anniversary of the achievement, this brief biography hits hard on the strengths Henson brought to the partnership-his facility with the Inuit language, his ability to fix nearly anything, his rapport with the sled dogs-presenting readers with a portrait of a singularly determined yet ever-affable man. While Hopkinson's text, which is complemented by excerpts from Henson's memoir, cannot compare in poetic power to Carole Boston Weatherford's I, Matthew Henson, illustrated by Eric Velasquez (2008), its straightforward account has its own appeal. Alcorn's hand-tinted prints feature stylized swirls of waves and snow in monumental tableaux. Handsome. (author's note, timeline, resources) (Picture book/biography. 5-10)

Kirkus Reviews

"Henson's story is dramatic, although the narrative voice is soft as velvet, while Stephen Alcorn's artwork appears both washed in bitter cold and defrosted by its hand-tinted quality." —Kirkus Reviews

"Large in scale and often handsome" —Booklist

"Strikingly illustrated. . . articulate and straightforward prose" —School Library Journal

"Sturdy prose. . . stylized illustrations range from images of classic Americana to organic figures in motion" —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher