Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Marooned in the Arctic
Marooned in the Arctic: The True Story of Ada Blackjack, the "Female Robinson Crusoe" | Peggy Caravantes
5 posts | 2 read | 1 reading | 1 to read
The first and only young adult book about Ada Blackjack and her remarkable, true-life survival story In 1921, four men ventured into the Arctic for a top-secret expedition—an attempt to claim the remote, uninhabited Wrangel Island in northern Siberia for Canada. With the men was a 23-year-old Inuit woman named Ada Blackjack, who had signed on as a cook and seamstress to earn money to care for her sick son, left at home. Conditions soon turned dire for the team when, after rations ran out, they were unable to kill enough game to survive. Three of the men tried to cross the frozen Chukchi Sea for help but were never seen again, leaving Ada with one remaining, ill team member whom she cared for but who soon died of scurvy. 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. She taught herself to shoot a shotgun and a rifle. After Ada was finally rescued in August 1923, after two years total on the island, she became an instant celebrity, with newspapers calling her a real "female Robinson Crusoe." The first and only young adult book about Ada Blackjack and her remarkable story, Marooned in the Arctic includes sidebars on relevant topics of interest to teens, such as the uses of cats on sailing ships, the phenomenon known as Arctic hysteria, and various aspects of Inuit culture and beliefs.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
blurb
Kelly
post image

Today's cybils reading is a biography of Ada Blackjack, followed by a book about the plague in America.

19 likes1 stack add
review
LizGotauco
post image
Panpan

Unfortunately, I didn't love this, which is too bad because I'm sure Ada's story is quite compelling and clearly she was an amazing woman. The major bummer of the book is that very little of it actually chronicles the time she survived on her own on Wrangel Island. Here's a sweet picture of her from when she met the family of one of the men she nursed in the Arctic.

blurb
LizGotauco
post image

I've reached the "required reading" portion of #24In48. I like being a book reviewer, but in the summer when I "have to" read a book, it does feel a lot like summer reading lists of days gone by.

flyfarther79 A little part of me misses summer reading assignments. 8y
WordWaller I hear you! It's hard to get me to read what I "have" to when I reminisce about summer reading lists 8y
8 likes2 comments
blurb
LizGotauco
post image

My TBR pile (most likely) for @24in48 though I may finish my current read sooner. I'll probably throw more comics and some kids books in there for variety.

blurb
LizGotauco
post image

It's like he is trying to be the next Internet Reading-Cat Celebrity.

Chessa 😹 8y
4 likes1 comment