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Iditarod as a Personal Quest

The Iditarod is set against the (much) bigger backdrop of Alaska. This category includes some selected general-purpose reference works to assist non-Alaskans (or even for Alaskans who are not quite familiar with their home state) to better understand the Last Frontier.

Back of the Pack--An Iditarod Rookie Musher's Alaska Pilgrimage to Nome

by Don Bowers

Pages: 396

Publisher: Publication Consultants, Anchorage (1998)

ISBN: 1888125241

Intended Audience: Middle school and up

180 b&w photos by the author. The author was a long-time volunteer pilot for the race who finally caught the mushing bug and decided to run the race himself--and has been a hopelessly addicted "dog person" ever since. Based on the author's journals, the book describes the author's efforts to learn about mushing from scratch and culminates with his finally reaching Nome with his own team in 1996. The book covers much background and history but centers on the author's personal quest to learn about his dogs and complete the Iditarod. Interspersed with moments of quiet reflections, poetic descriptions, and self-deprecating humor, the book also contains enough nonstop adventure to keep readers turning pages.

The Legend of the Sled Dog Trail

by Lew Freedman
George Attla

Pages: 204

Publisher: Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA (1993)

ISBN: 081173031X

Intended Audience: Grades 6 and up

Veteran sports writer Lew Freedman's biography of mushing legend George Attla. Attla is a Native who found fame (if not necessarily fortune) in sprint racing and eventually the Iditarod. His dogs (or their descendants) are found in many kennels across Alaska today, and he is still a formidable contender in the big sprint races every year.

Iditarod Classics

by Lew Freedman
Illustrated by Jon Van Zyle

Pages: 132

Publisher: Epicenter, Fairbanks (1992)

ISBN: 0945397127

Intended Audience: Grades 4 and up

Lew Freedman (Anchorage Daily News sports editor) has collected and edited stories and brief biographies from 21 Iditarod mushers. Stories range from the hilarious to the downright scary and give considerable insight into life on the trail during the race. Fine illustrations by Iditarod veteran and Alaskan artist Jon Van Zyle.

Iditarod Dreams: A Year in the Life of Alaskan Sled Dog Racer DeeDee Jonrowe

by Lew Freedman
DeeDee Jonrowe

Pages: 190

Publisher: Epicenter, Fairbanks (1995)

ISBN: 0945397291

Intended Audience: Grades 5 and up

DeeDee Jonrowe is one of the perennial contenders in the Iditarod. This is an interesting perspective on a top musher's life, told in a chronological format and including everything from the Iditarod to the Alpirod and all the myriad of things happening off the trail.

My Lead Dog Was a Lesbian: Mushing Across Alaska in the Iditarod

by Brian O'Donoghue

Pages: 290

Publisher: Vantage Departures, New York (1996)

ISBN: 0679764119

Intended Audience: Middle school and up

Brian O'Donoghue ran the 1991 Iditarod as a rank rookie and finished dead last, taking home the Red Lantern to mark his improbable journey. If you can get past the use of the "l-word", it's a pretty good book, with plenty of humor and a down-to-earth look at the trip to Nome from the "are we gonna make it?" end of the pack. (No, there's no sex in it, other than what the dogs might be contemplating.)

Honest Dogs: A Story of Triumph and Regret from the World's Toughest Sled Dog Race

by Brian O’Donoghue

Pages: 335

Publisher: Epicenter, (1999)

ISBN: 094539778X

At 43, Brian Patrick O'Donoghue sees his youth slipping away. Yearning for one more challenge, he signs up to compete in the 1998 Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race. A last-place finisher a few years before in the Iditarod, O'Donoghue sets off with his fourteen Alaska huskies to find out if he and his team have the stuff to be contenders in an even more demanding race. With wry humor, diminishing expectations, and newfound humility, O'Donoghue introduces readers to the canine characteristics who comprise his team. O'Donoghue also takes stock of the independent-thinking, quirky, and always interesting men and women against whom he races. But it is his own absorbing "head trip" down the cold, dark trail that is the most interesting of all. The musher's strategies, hopes, dreams, and disappointments; the antics of the canine athletes, the drama of the race; and the unworldly wilderness venue add texture to a story of a personal journey by a young man who "gets away from it all" in an astonishing way.

Cold Nights, Fast Trails: Reflections of a Modern Dog Musher

by Dave Olesen

Pages: 240

Publisher: Northword Press, Minocqua, WI (1989)

ISBN: 559710411

Intended Audience: Grades 6 and up

Dave Olesen and his wife Kristin moved north from Minnesota in the late 1980s to the remote reaches of Canada's Northwest Territories to live the life they wanted and to run dogs. Dave has run the Iditarod seven times and has finished in the top 20 several times. This is a very good book, well written and a fine read.

Winterdance-The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod

by Gary Paulsen

Pages: 256

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York (1994)

ISBN: 0151262276

Intended Audience: For adults

Paulsen has richly evoked the spirit and intensity and frustrations and humor and ultimate satisfaction of preparing for and ultimately running the Iditarod (which he did in 1983). A national bestseller for many weeks, and about to go into production as a Disney movie.

Race Across Alaska: First Woman to Win the Iditarod Tells Her Story

by Libby Riddles
Tim Jones

Pages: 239

Publisher: Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA (1988)

ISBN: 0811722538

Intended Audience: Grades 5 and up

One of the first and still one of the best accounts of a winning run in the Iditarod, along with everything that goes into making it happen. Well written with tons of background information in sidebars on every page.

The Iditarod: The Greatest Win Ever

by Monica Devine

Pages: 56

Publisher: Perfection, Logan, IA (1997)

ISBN: 07899119552

Intended Audience: Grades 3-6

A young girl runs the Iditarod in a story that is oriented toward classroom teaching, with vocabulary and glossary, plus color photos.

Susan Butcher and the Iditarod Trail

by Ellen M. Dolan

Pages: 103

Publisher: Walker, New York (1993)

ISBN: 0802782116

Intended Audience: Grades 4-8

This is a reasonably good biography of Susan Butcher, five-time Iditarod champion. It includes a brief history of the Iditarod Trail and the 1925 Serum Run. Good background on training and caring for dogs (and Susan is among the best).

Adventure in Alaska

by S.A. Kramer

Pages: 96

Publisher: Random House, New York (1993)

ISBN: 0679845119

Intended Audience: Grades 2-5

Kids' version of Libby Riddles' excellent Race Across Alaska, the story of her epochal 1985 Iditarod victory.

Black Star, Bright Dawn

by Scott O'Dell

Pages: 134

Publisher: Houghton-Mifflin Co., Boston, MA (1988)

ISBN: 0395477786

Intended Audience: Grades 3 and up

Chapter book. A young Eskimo girl and her leader Black Star must substitute for her father in the Iditarod. The story is getting a bit dated and some details have become inaccurate as the race has changed over the last decade, but this has become an Iditarod classic and the basic story is still good. It begins to touch on some of the social issues centering around Native Alaska, but not deeply. This is a fine, fast-paced read and a sure-fire favorite.

Woodsong

by Gary Paulsen

Pages: 132

Publisher: Bradbury Press, New York (1990)

ISBN: 01403405

Intended Audience: Grades 4 and up

many ways this is the young-adult version of Paulsen's Winterdance, his account of preparing for and running the 1983 Iditarod. Paulsen has "been there, done that," and it shows. What really shows through is Paulsen's love for his dogs and appreciation of what he's doing. A few graphic scenes, but young readers are usually hooked quickly, and for the duration. Excellent preparation for studying the race. (Great for read-aloud, but beware of a couple of emotional sections that match anything in Where the Red Fern Grows!)

Storm Run

by Libby Riddles
Illustrations by Shannon Cartwright

Publisher: Paws IV Publishing, Homer (1996)

ISBN: 0934007314

Intended Audience: Grades 4-6

Libby Riddles tells her own story of her 1985 Iditarod victory in picture-book format. Well done with Shannon Cartwright's fine illustrations--and a good adventure read for kids.

Susan Butcher: Sled Dog Racer

by Ginger Wadsworth

Pages: 64

Publisher: Lerner, Minneapolis (1994)

ISBN: 0937708216

Intended Audience: Grades 3-6

Good information but not very good presentation. This is a straightforward biography of Susan Butcher, done without her cooperation. Useful as a backup reference, but probably won't entice kids to read it on their own.

Iditarod Dreams: Dusty and His Sled Dogs Compete in Alaska's Junior Iditarod

by Ted Wood

Pages: 48

Publisher: Walker, New York (1996)

ISBN: 0902784062

Intended Audience: Grades 2-6

Fourteen-year-old Dusty Whittemore is from Cantwell, near Denali Park. His father ran the Iditarod, and Dusty aims to win the Junior Iditarod. Excellent photography. A real-life story that will give kids a peer figure with whom to identify. (Dusty plans to run the Iditarod himself, possibly in 2000.)