Keep On!: The Story of Matthew Henson, Co-Discoverer of the North Pole

7 -year old grandson read and used it to complete his 2nd. grade holiday assignment on a famous explorer. Grade 100%

I have to admit, I was not expecting much from this book. I thought it might be more of a fluff piece. But my kids were studying arctic and antarctic explorers, so we picked it up at the library. And it was great! My kindergartner and first grader enjoyed it as much as my second and third grader did.One of the best parts of the book are the illustrations, which are colorful and full page. They are really fun and well done, easy for the younger ages to relate to. The text is a little wordy, but a previous reviewer explained that by saying it was actually done as free verse--which I didn't pick up on at all but now makes sense. Still, it didn't ruin the story. Another great part is the excerpts from Henson's diary on the bottom of each page, just a sentence or two. That really makes it come alive as a historical work.The plot moves along and ends dramatically with the successful planting of the flag at the North Pole, which my kids really appreciated. And by far the best part as an adult was the back matter on the last couple pages. The timeline and photo of Henson, along with a brief synopsis, really helped bring the story alive. A second or third grader could read through it and pick up some more detailed information, if they wished.Overall, great! Got my kids interested in a part of exploration history that we had so far not discovered.

This book is well-produced: the size is large, the illustrations are clear, and the quality of the paper is heavy and rich. This book is a pleasure to hold and to read. In fact, it is such a LOVELY book that I am overlooking my usual distaste for free verse.The book gives a good biography of young Matthew Henson, and then showcases his contributions to Peary's arctic exploration. Deborah Hopkinson gives us a Matthew Henson who is instrumental to the success of the expedition, completely likable, and brilliant at getting the work done. Many outtakes from Henson's own book are included. Amazingly, this explorer (a black man!) could write in standard English and did NOT resort to free verse. Can you imagine?Our kids deserve to read beautiful books that also give them a feel for written English sentence structure. Please, publishers and authors, give us sentences and paragraphs.Excellent illustrations grace this book and pull your child's eyes into the story. Check out the biographical information and timeline at the end of the book.