To the Top of the World

Barbara Hillary, the First Black Woman to Reach the North and South Poles

Deborah Blumenthal author Anastasia Magloire Williams illustrator

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Simon & Schuster

Publishing:20th Nov '25

£12.99

This title is due to be published on 20th November, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

To the Top of the World cover

Go exploring with Barbara Hillary, the first Black woman to set foot on both the North and South Poles in this thrilling and inspiring picture book biography about perseverance, imagination, and following your dreams.

As a young girl, Barbara Hillary imagined a life of adventure. Despite facing hardships in her childhood and illness as an adult, she never gave up on her dream: to travel the world and explore hard-to-reach places. So, at age seventy-five, she became the first Black woman to set foot on the North Pole. Less than four years later, she did the same at the South Pole.

Barbara loved everything the world has to offer. During her travels, she discovered that the remote places she cared so much about were threatened by climate change. From then on, she dedicated herself to saving the planet for future generations. She never let her age—or anything else—stop her until she stood at the top of the world!

"Blumenthal laces her upbeat text with personal details—like Barbara getting frostbite after enthusiastically yanking off her gloves for a photo-op—that make for an intimate portrait. Williams’ digital illustrations feature both snowy, wide-open vistas and close-ups of Barbara striking triumphant poses as she succeeds again and again. A remarkably uplifting tale of tenacity and determination." -- Kirkus Reviews * 9/15/25 *
"Blumenthal’s laudatory text spotlights the figure’s grit as she raises funds and trains for her successful 2007 arctic journey, becoming the first Black woman to make the trip, and then travels to the South Pole in 2011, before devoting her final years to learning and lecturing about climate change—all the while continuing to “dream... learn... and plan” more trips. Magloire Williams’s realistic artwork energetically captures their subject’s resolve." -- Publishers Weekly * 8/11/25 *

ISBN: 9781665927734

Dimensions: 254mm x 254mm x 13mm

Weight: 488g

40 pages