POLAR PASSAGE: THE HISTORIC FIRST SAIL THROUGH THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE Jeff Maclnnis with Wade Rowland. Toronto, ON: Random House, 1989. 186pp., cloth, $21.95. ISBN 0-394-22083-8. CIP. Subject Headings: MacInnis, Jeff, 1963- -Journeys. Beedell, Mike, 1956- -Journeys. Northwest Passage. Grades 10 and up / Ages 15 and up Reviewed by Mollie Hooper. Volume 17 Number 6 1989 November Jeff MacInnis's Polar Passage is the topic of a National Geographic feature article and pictorial as well as a feature-length TV show airing in Canada, the U.S., and Great Britain. Wade Rowland has collaborated with such well-known writers as Farley Mowat and Gerald Durrell, so qualifications are not a moot point. This book is the astounding personal account of history's first sail-powered transit through Canada's treacherous four-thousand-kilometre Northwest Passage. Maclnnis and his photographer friend, Mike Beedell, journeyed on a course that succeeded where so many failed. Although it is a day-to-day account of the trip, it is told so simply but so dramatically that the reader is captured and held. Danger in the form of grizzlies, blizzards, fogs, extremely cold weather, emotions, and fatigue are balanced by the many beauties of the untouched Arctic. Polar Passage is the unforgettable story of how two men triumphed against incredible odds and the most severe tests of physical and mental endurance to fulfill one of history's long-standing dreams. The book is well organized. Maps showing their progress head each chapter. A group of beautiful colour photographs are centred half-way through the story. It is indexed by chapter at the front and in detail at the back. Historical highlights of the exploration of the Northwest Passage are listed in the back. Hard covered in blue, with a striking dust jacket, this book should be in every high school and public library. Mollie Hooper, Qualicum Beach, BC.