A Suffragist’s Guide to the Antarctic

Gr 9 Up–Eighteen-year-old American suffragist Clara Ketterling-Dunbar is on the adventure of a lifetime on an Antarctic Expedition in 1914. As the only woman on a crew of 28 members of The Resolute, she has to work as hard or harder than the men to prove her place on board. The crew of the British ship believes her to be a 21-year-old Canadian (she pretends because British sentiment isn't favorable of America's lack of women's suffrage and wartime assistance), and her adventure changes into a challenge when The Resolute is crushed by ice and sunk in the sea. The expedition becomes a survival situation as the crew camp in tents, stranded on ice floes. Clara has had lots of adventure in her lifetime. Growing up in the early 1900s she had the opportunity to learn about the outdoors, riding, and hunting with her mother. She also has recently traveled overseas to fight with the Women’s Social and Political Union in London. When World War I broke out, she signed up for an Antarctic trip, keeping a journal for readers to learn about her adventures.