The Disastrous Wrangel Island Expedition

by Katrina M. Phillips, David Shephard (Illustrator)

Overview

In 1921, Inupait seamstress Ada Blackjack joined a a group of four white men who wanted to establish a trading post on Wrangel Island in the freezing Arctic Ocean. The explorers were stranded on the island when their return ship was forced to turn back due to ice. Facing harsh conditions and dwindling food supplies, the men died one by one, but Ada remained. Find out how she alone managed to survive the disastrous expedition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781663958914
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	01/01/2022
Series:	Deadly Expeditions
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	GN650L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

About the Author

Dr. Katrina Phillips is a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. She earned her BA and PhD in History from the University of Minnesota, and she teaches Native American history and the history of the American West at Macalester College.

Dave Shephard is a comic book artist and illustrator of children’s books.

He’s tried doing other things, but none of them quite cut the mustard.

Table of Contents

Ada Blackjack 4

Stefansson and the Wrangel Island Explorers 8

Ready for Adventure 12

Life on the Island 18

Ada on Her Own 24

Map of the Expedition 28

More About the Expedition 29

Glossary 30

Read More 31

Internet Sites 31

Index 32

Author Bio 32

Illustrator Bio 32

Interviews

High-interest approach to well-known expeditions;

Editorial Reviews

The lesser-known 1921 Wrangel Island Expedition is chronicled in this graphic novel, part of the Deadly Expeditions series (4 titles). The book begins by introducing its two key players: Ada Blackjack (a young Inuit single mother from Nome, Alaska) and Vilhjalmur Steffansson (an aging white explorer of Icelandic heritage). Steffansson was determined to establish a European colony on Wrangel Island, off the coast of Siberia. He assembled a five-man team of explorers, and Blackjack, desperate for money, joined them. While the writing is a bit stilted, the artwork makes the tale quite lively, especially once the expedition reaches the uninhabited island. Readers will become engrossed in the team’s efforts to survive and be impressed with how Blackjack proves herself the most capable person there; indeed, she’s the sole survivor. A map and additional information conclude.

Booklist - Julia Smith