He was the son of a white trapper and and Indian woman and learned how to survive in the wilderness at a very early age. In the Kuskokwim region of Alaska life was cold and bitter. Huntington's mother walked 1,000 miles every winter just to see her family. Later, after her death, the duties fell to her seven-year-old son to care for his brother and sister. As humble as he was, Huntington was a fighter. An amazing one at that. James had to hunt wolves, fights bears, and survives close calls that almost took his life just to live. He then becomes the first and youngest musher to win the Anchorage and Fairbanks dog sled racing, which also happened in the same year. As an Alaskan classic it seems like that still puts a smile on faces. This true life tale of James Huntington never fails to impress.
So as I mentioned in my review about Out of the dust, I said I didn't like books like this. I could never be more wrong. I absolutely fell in love with this book the second I started reading it. What is interesting is that I've never read a non-fiction story about Alaska. I have never even read a fiction story about Alaska! It makes Alaska look like so much more than just the cold, bitterness that everyone thinks it is. Don't get me wrong, I've always found Alaska interesting but never in this manner. It makes me want to read so many more books like this. So yes, recommend this book to everyone you come across! ( )

Huntington, James. On the Edge of Nowhere. Epicenter Press, 2002. 192pp. Intermediate/Adult.

James Huntington’s autobiography shares his adventures and struggles for survival in the first 1900s in Alaska’s northern reaches. In first-person story-telling style, Huntington has a warm tone mixed with humor and some sadness as he recounts his life. There are strong themes of survival and family.

AK Content: Huntington mentions places like Nome, Fairbanks, and Anchorage. He also speaks about Northern village life and subsistence lifestyle and dog sledding. Some aspects of his story feel somewhat exaggerated, but I think that is somewhat common for autobiographies. As readers, we can’t feel what the author felt in those real life moments, and I think that’s a fine thing to make note of. His father was a white trapper, and his mother is Athabascan, which sounds like a common theme of splitting cultures that Alaskana literature has in addition to the survival theme.

Activity: Have students mark on a map of Alaska the places Huntington goes or mentions (Anchorage, Nome, Fairbanks, Hogatza, Selawik, Kobuk, and Koyukuk Rivers, and so on). Connect those locations with what’s mentioned in the book alongside pictures and student input from outside the book.

Keywords: Alaska, autobiography, survival, Athabascan

Biography: Chapter Book
Huntington, James On the Edge of Nowhere. Epicenter Press, 2002. 192p. Middle school
This autobiography of James Huntington, tells of his life, adventures, and struggles for survival in the first half of the 2Oth century in Northern Alaska. Told in an exaggerated, story-telling style in the first person with a warm tone that is sometimes sad, sometimes humorous. Themes are family, survival, and making a place in the world.
AK: Alaskan places-like Nome, Fairbanks, Anchorage, Northern village life and subsistence lifestyle, dog-sledding
Activity: Help children find the places mentioned in the book like Hogatza, Selawik, Kobuk, and Koyukuk Rivers, Nome, etc. on a large map of Alaska. ( )

A short and engaging account of one man's survival in Alaska during the first half of the 20th century. Although the stories were amazing, they certianly seemed a little far fetched. I want to believe that Mr. Hunting killed him a wolf when he was eight and took out three bears with an axe but somehow I imagine there might be a little exgaration going on. This book reads more like the Paul Bunyan/Davy Crocket tales of Alaska.

Huntington had a knack for getting his life in order than having some crazy catastrophe happen which caused him to start all over. It's was a little frustrating to read about, then the ending was so abrupt. I suppose I need to read through the afterword of the newer edition to see if there may be more insights to his life. ( )