Robert Peary, boy of the North Pole
Electa Clark
Hardcover
(Bobbs Merrill, March 15, 1962)
Robert Edwin Peary truly loved the cold Maine winters. "hurrah! Hurrah!" he shouted when blizzards piled deep drifts over the countryside. Nothing was more exciting than to go outside where he could feel the fierce icy wind biting his cheeks. Robert had great fun coastng with his cousins when he went to visit Uncle Eben. He tried to keep the sled right side up, but sometimes it plowed into a snowdrift and overturned. Somehow plowing into a snowdrift and overturning made coasting more fun. There were five paths that had to be shoveled at Uncle Eben's house. THe path from the house to the road was by far the longest of them all. Seven-year-old Robert and the other boys drew straws to see who would shovel this longest path. Robert lost and the other boys shouted, "Bert's the goat." Aunt Martha said that Robert was too small to shovel the long walk, but he was determined to try. He shoveled until cold sweat trickled down his forehead, but he kept on. Finally, half-exhausted, he went into the house where he was treated witht the largest piece of roast goose. " when Robert Edwin Peary starts a thing, he finishes it," his mother said proudly. This book, which has been written by Electra Clark, tells a colorful story about Robert Edwin Peary, who discored the North Pole. She shows how this Great American suffered one setback after another, but kept on persevering until he achieved his ultimate goal.