I have enjoyed several of Donna Jo Napoli’s previous titles:  Crazy Jack, Stones in Water, and King of Mulberry Street.  I looked forward to reading North not only on her reputation as an author, but because the subject matter was unique. 

North is about a very insecure and overprotected boy (Alvin) running away to follow in the footsteps of his hero, the Arctic explorer Matthew Hensen.  Unfortunatly this novel couldn’t decide if it was a non-fiction work about Matthew Hensen, an instruction on authentic research, or a treatise on life in the Arctic today.  The information about Hensen is rather clumsily woven into the narrative.  The plot device of an unhappy runaway is contrived and unbelievable.  The tiny bit of the narrative that does shine is the time Alvin spends with Idlouk Tana learning to survive in the far North.  Since the reader doesn’t reach that until pg 266 it is too-little-too-late. 

Any reader that sticks with the book is going to be disappointed when the tease that Idlouk is a descendant of Matthew Hensen is proven wrong.  Alvin is disappointed and the reader feels betrayed.  A disappointing title from Napoli!