《书目》(Booklist)书评

Gr. 3-6. Reaching the North Pole was, Peary said, ``my dream, my destiny, the goal . . . which had driven me for twenty-three years.'' During this frigid apprenticeship of trial and error, he learned the methods for Arctic living and travel. Kent chronicles Peary's eighth expedition in 1909 with such gripping immediacy that the reader will pore over the photographs of the historic journey, trying to fathom the source of the explorer's fighting power and tough, courageous spirit. In toiling the last miles, Peary was accompanied by Matthew Henson, a black man who was an expert dogsled driver, and four Eskimos. His exultation at success was ``soiled and smirched by a cowardly cur'' when, as Kent relates, Peary's old companion, Dr. Frederick Cook, claimed to have reached the pole a year earlier; however, Peary's evidence supported his accomplishment. The Cornerstones of Freedom series has made a format change to exclusive use of photographs and engravings, seen to distinct advantage in this taut presentation. -- Phillis Wilson