Black Star, Bright Dawn

Bright Dawn is a young Inuit woman (called Eskimo in the book). Her family has recently moved from their native village by the ocean to a town further inland. Her father while out hunting had become traumatized when he got stranded on an ice floe and nearly died. He couldn’t face the sea again, so the family uprooted. Bright Dawn is troubled by all this, but in town she finds an unexpected opportunity to participate in the Iditarod with her sled dog team. The leader, Black Star, is part wolf. Her father never liked Black Star as well as the other dogs due to his willfullness and independent nature, but Bright Dawn finds that an asset in the grueling race. At the start she becomes off-and-on-again companion to another racer, an older show more man named Oteg. This man wants to camp with her, give her advice, tell her stories. She appreciates some of this, isn’t sure if she believes all the old stories, and then starts to feel like he’s holding her back. In the end, she has to follow her own decisions and trust in her lead dog. They face many dangerous obstacles (including encounters with a wolf pack, angry bull moose, terrifyingly bad weather, and treacherous ice). Bright Dawn really wants to win the race, but she doesn’t hesitate to stop and help others who need it on the way and to care for her dogs properly. I wouldn’t say she finds herself on the race, more that she grows into who she’s been all along. It’s nice to read details that mesh with others from stories I’ve read of Inuit in the past, or of sled-dog mushing. A lot of the traditional Inuit customs, and beliefs recounted by Oteg were ones I hadn’t heard of before. I also liked that at the very end of the story, Bright Dawn’s father has the opportunity to face his fears in order to help his daughter. That felt a little contrived, but not terribly. To me this story felt rather calm due to the somewhat understated writing style, but I bet younger readers would find it exciting. show less

A fourth grade student and I agreed to each read a different volume of Scott O'Dell's and I chose "Black Star, Bright Dawn," and I am glad. It is the story of an Eskimo girl whose family moves from the coast inland after her father, Bartok, is stranded on an ice floe while seal hunting. While he survives physically, he leaves his profession & agrees to train for the Iditarod (a grueling dogsled race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska). Soon he is injured. His daughter, 18-year-old Bright Dawn, agrees to replace him at the behest of Bartok's backers. She loves the dogs, but Black Star, a husky-wolf mix is her favorite.

The story is one of adventure and quiet intensity. When she is to leave, she is told, "Be of good cheer." Later, she is show more advised by an older racer that "[t]he race is won by thinking." Sturdy Bright Dawn proves to be resourceful, compassionate and ingenious. O'Dell's descriptions of the environment--the sparkling darkness, the ubiquitous cold, the dogs buried in snow so that "[j]ust their noses showed"--and Bright Dawn's travails in the weather and wildlife (moose attack!) make for a splendid, snowy immersion in the far north.

This title will appeal to readers who enjoy adventure stories and/or animal tales. show less

A fourth grade student and I agreed to each read a different volume of Scott O'Dell's and I chose "Black Star, Bright Dawn," and I am glad. It is the story of an Eskimo girl whose family moves from the coast inland after her father, Bartok, is stranded on an ice floe while seal hunting. While he survives physically, he leaves his profession & agrees to train for the Iditarod (a grueling dogsled race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska). Soon he is injured. His daughter, 18-year-old Bright Dawn, agrees to replace him at the behest of Bartok's backers. She loves the dogs, but Black Star, a husky-wolf mix is her favorite.

The story is one of adventure and quiet intensity. When she is to leave, she is told, "Be of good cheer." Later, she is show more advised by an older racer that "[t]he race is won by thinking." Sturdy Bright Dawn proves to be resourceful, compassionate and ingenious. O'Dell's descriptions of the environment--the sparkling darkness, the ubiquitous cold, the dogs buried in snow so that "[j]ust their noses showed"--and Bright Dawn's travails in the weather and wildlife (moose attack!) make for a splendid, snowy immersion in the far north.

This title will appeal to readers who enjoy adventure stories and/or animal tales. show less

A fascinating look at Eskimo (that's what he calls them - what he has them call themselves) ways. Almost an enjoyable story, too - the details of the race were amazing. However, I was disappointed overall. There are a _lot_ of threads that just get dropped, and more that are passed over with bare notice. The whole thing with the white wolf, for one; her father's breakthrough; her placement in the race...events happen, some of which ought to be momentous, and the story barely pauses to notice them as it passes on. Not a winner, for me.

In my opinion this is a really good book. This book is about a young girl and her adventure of running the Iditarod at 18 years old. She never imagined she would compete in the Iditarod, but her father’s injuries forced her to take his place. I really enjoyed how this was told from Bright Dawn’s point of view because it allowed me to try and understand how she was feeling and why she made certain decisions. The narrative focused on her relationship with Black Star, the lead part-husky, part-wolf sled dog, and the many different encounters they have on the 1,179-mile race. I am personally attracted to anything that has to do with animals, especially dogs, so I found the relationship between Black Star and Bright Dawn incredibly show more interesting to read about. I also liked the writing because it was very engaging and flowed well with the pace of the book. The descriptions were incredibly vivid and allows the reader imagine what was being described. For example, when Bright Dawn and her dog-team encountered a moose the writing was engaging and the language was descriptive: “Snow was falling, and at first I thought it was a pile of rocks covered by brush. As I drew closer, the rocks turned into trees, then into a shaggy beast. I thought it was a caribou. Then I saw the spreading horns and the long lumpy nose. It was a moose, a bull moss, big and red-eyed.” I liked how rather then blatantly saying, “I saw a moose,” the author gradually puts bits of information into the passage. By doing this, the reader continues to read on to see what happens. Descriptions like this were frequent throughout this book and I thought they really made the book more engaging. O’Dell focuses mostly on Bright Dawn and, as a result, the drama associated with her struggle throughout the race is intensified. The big idea of this book is about the struggle against nature and the lesson it teaches in how to become self-reliant. show less

A young Eskimo girl and her dog team enter the Iditarod dogsled race, but it is not just about the race, but about her heritage, her family, and her beliefs. Nicely written, with enough action to keep the reader's interest.

I first read this in 3rd/4th (?) grade while looking for something to read in the school library, it eventually turned into one of the all time favorite books, really the book the started my lifetime love of books. A "classic" coming of age story of a young Eskimo girl and her first time running the Iditarod race, dealing with her personal fears and endurance, natural trials of the Alaskan wild, as well as old and new friendships discovered along the way.

Black Star, Bright Dawn had a way of bringing me into its own world, one of those books where you ceased to be simply reading words on paper, but lived along with Bright Dawn; facing everything she endured right along with her. Vividly written in a prose of a classic storyteller, it's show more turned into a book I still remember dearly even after so many books in between.

I'd recommend it to any young reader, especially young girls. show less