The Snow Baby: The Arctic Childhood of Robert E. Peary’s Daring Daughter
By Katherine Kirkpatrick
Holiday House
Ages 10 and up
News of Marie Ahnighito Peary’ birth on an icy bay in northern Greenland spread around the globe, shocking Victorian society. The daughter of prominent American parents had been born in a tarred lodge at the edge of the known world! Even the Inuit who visited the blonde, blue-eyed baby were amazed. They called her “Snow Baby.”
While most girls Marie’s age were studying sewing and other “womanly arts,” she was wearing sealskin clothing, sliding down glacial cliffs, and making friends with Inuit children. Spending her childhood partly in the Arctic and partly with relatives on the East Coast of the United States, she grew up in two worlds.
Author’s Note:
"While I was working on The Snow Baby, I greatly enjoyed touring the Peary family’s home on Eagle Island. To view some of my photographs from that trip, click on Eagle Island Scrapbook. To plan your own visit to the house, see Peary’s Eagle Island. And to learn more about Robert E. Peary, please visit the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum.
Researchers interested in the published writings and personal papers of Marie Stafford Peary Kuhne and Josephine Diebitsch Peary, may view them by appointment at the Maine Women Writers Collection."
“When Marie Peary, daughter of the famous explorer, was six weeks old, her mother wrapped her in a caribou skin bag, furs, and an American flag and carried her outside to see the sunlight shine on the Greenland snow. Soon the sun would disappear for months. Young Marie had a childhood like no other. Called Snow Baby by the Inuit who had never seen a blond blue-eyed child, she moved back and forth between the icy domains where her father kept camp as he continued his expeditions, and the U.S., where her mother’s relatives led a genteel life. Kirkpatrick had great source material to work with, both Marie and her mother wrote their own books. But her own involving writing gets this right down to a child’s level as she picks out the details that will appeal to them most: Christmas in arctic climes, a frightening ship wreck, her friendships with Inuit children. She wisely frames the youngster’s personal story against a larger one—the repeated struggles of her father to reach the North Pole. This book has everything, adventure, longing for a parent, the juxtaposition of cultures, all wrapped up in attractive package, studded with fabulous photographs. A solid bibliography and source notes for the quotes are appended.—Ilene Cooper, Booklist, starred
“Kirkpatrick’s engaging text captures the girl’s adventurous spirit and the opportunities that her father’s life as an explorer presented, as well as her love of the North and her Inuit friends. Numerous black-and-white photos show the child growing up and pictures from the admiral’s quest. A photo of four-month-old Marie reaching for a sunbeam–her first experience of sunlight after the long Arctic night–is especially poignant. It’s impossible not to contrast the more staid images of traditional portraits with the lively candid shots of her at a ship’s helm or standing with her Inuit friends dressed in animal skins. Children will relate to nine-year-old Marie’s letter urging her father to stay home rather than go exploring again. Notes divided into primary and secondary sources, a bibliography, and acknowledgments reveal Kirkpatrick’s thoughtful scholarship . . . . A terrific addition for most collections.”—Janet S. Thompson, Chicago Public Library, School Library Journal