triscuit807's review
5.0
4.5-5 stars. This was a very interesting biography of an explorer/diplomat who was completely unknown to me. The author's writing style was always engaging which was not the norm with children's bios of this era. She made his childhood and schooling as interesting as his travels through and over the Arctic pack ice. Normally I'd have been most fascinated by the Arctic exploration and oceanography, but it was his League of Nations work and humanitarian work post WWI that really resonated. I had no idea that he was critical to the repatriation of 100,000s of WWI POWs in Russian camps, nor famine relief given the Russian and Ukrainian peasants, nor the resettlement of Greeks from Turkey, nor Anatolians from the genocide. That was also well-written as was his help in the campaign to avoid war between Norway and Sweden in 1905-6. He seems like he was a very forward thinking man and one whom the world needs as an advocate today (Nobel Peace Prize 1922). I read this for my 2019 Reading Challenge and my Newbery Challenge (Honor Book, 1941).
scaifea's review
3.0
This Newbery Honor Book gives an account of the life of Norwegian hero Fridtjof Nansen, including his expeditions in Greenland and near the North Pole, and his humanitarian work after WWI. More interesting than I thought it would be, to be honest - it hasn't aged badly at all and I learned quite a bit about Nansen and his work.
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