Keep On!

Keep On! The Story of Matthew Henson, Co-Discoverer of the North Pole by Deborah Hopkinson

An exerpt:

“Matthew Henson
was born in a Maryland cabin,
at a time when boys dreamed of finding glory,
of planting flags at the ends of the Earth,
making the unknown known,
and recording their names into history books.

Young Matt had that same hunger to explore,
but most folks would have laughed at his dreams.
For Matt was born in 1866, just after the Civil War,
a time when poor black boys like him
had few chance to roam the next county,
to say nothing of another country, the seven seas,
or the top of the world.”

The line breaks in this book make the worlds read like poetry. Each double page has a quote that emphasizes the ideas on the pages.

The story tells the most important events of Henson's trip with Peary to the North Pole. The book concludes with an author's note telling more about Henson, a time line, and a list of resources.