When Matthew Henson was born in 1866, few opportunities were available for Black people. As a child, Henson exhibited a yearning for adventure, embarking at age 13 on a five-year voyage sailing the seven seas. But as Deborah Hopkinson recounts here for readers 6 to 9, Henson's greatest adventure began when Robert Peary invited him to join an expedition to the North Pole. After many storms and injuries, Peary, Henson, and four Inuit men began the final 133-mile push to the Pole, making history. The text also includes quotations by Henson, while Stephen Alcorn captures the drama of the story in mixed-media illustrations.