have a powerful need to be in nature. Did I choose that or did it choose me? I am certain that my long
and abiding interest in the arctic began when I was seven years old. It was then that my
mother gave me BERTRAM'S TRIP TO THE NORTH POLE.
This book by Paul T. Gilbert was given to me in 1941 and was a magical story about Bertram
and his friends going to Greenland and the North Pole.
Paul Gilbert, a former columnist for the Chicago Evening Post, wrote children's books that were
like the bedtime stories he told his own children. Gilbert lived in a north Chicago suburb and I
lived in La Grange, west of the city.
BERTRAM'S TRIP TO THE NORTH POLE begins with Bertram's dream of a fierce hairy mammoth in a snow storm. On awakening Bertram discovers a glass ball with an elephant inside. When the ball is turned upside down a blizzard develops. I had a similar snow globe as a child. Bertram and subsequently his friends are triggered with a desire to go to the Far North. After a family discussion Bertram's daddy admits he has wanted,
"to see the frozen North — land of the aurora and the midnight sun. Ever since I was a boy, I wanted
to see an Eskimo village and ride behind a reindeer. I wish I'd had your opportunities when I was young.
Yes. On thinking it over, I'd say, 'Let them go.' Please pass the vinegar."
What follows is a wondrous story of Bertram and his friends journey to Greenland
and their many adventures. On the way they meet a pet whale named Billy.
They have a party crossing the arctic circle. They build igloos with the Eskimos.
Ginny Banning picks up some baby walruses.
They tangle with a polar bear.
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