Marooned in the Arctic: The True Story of Ada Blackjack, the “Female Robinson Crusoe”

Caravantes (The Many Faces of Josephine Baker) describes the survival struggles of an Inuit woman, Ada Blackjack, who traveled as a seamstress on an expedition to Wrangel Island, near Siberia, in the 1920s. Blackjack joined four male explorers on the voyage; excerpt from their journals detail how they regarded “the woman”—largely with a degree of exasperation and puzzlement. Despite greatly missing her son and being terrified of Polar bears, Blackjack settled into her strange new life. When food became scarce, three of the men ventured out to seek help, leaving her with a sick member of the party; after he died, Blackjack kept herself alive, recording her experience on a typewriter before eventually being rescued. Historical photos, contextual sidebars, and extensive source notes round out a fascinating portrait of a young woman who showed strength and fortitude when thrust into a perilous environment. Ages 12–up. (Mar.)