Dogteam

As well as being a stellar writer of children’s literature, Gary Paulsen was a seasoned dog musher, participating three times in the Alaskan Iditarod, the 1000 mile dog sled race. In this poetic picture book, beautifully illustrated in watercolours by his wife, Paulsen describes the sights and particularly the sounds of nighttime dog sledding. “Nothing in running dogs is quite so beautiful as a night run—,” he writes, “the cold is crisper, the dogs run for the pure joy of running, and the moon seems to dance on the snow.”

The picture book begins with his hitching up his seven trembling huskies, who sing “small songs of excitement when the harnesses are put on.” Once the run begins, there’s no sound but “the show more high-soft-shusshh-whine of the runners and the soft jingle of . . . [the dogs’] collars.” The team briefly encounters a pack of wolves, which run with them, and “pace our hearts and our lives.” In time, they find they’ve circled the cabin and have returned to where they began: “the dogs are coated with ice and the snaps on their collars and harness won’t open and their laughing-panting breath freezes on their cheeks and makes them all smiles, dogsmiles, doglaughs.”

As you can see from the above, Paulsen has fun with language here. There are times when I think he goes too far and risks losing the comprehension of his young audience. A couple of sentences are just a bit too abstract and mystical.

Overall, though, this is a lovely book. I’ve never been dog sledding but I certainly know those frigid winter nights when the full moon and the light’s reflection off the blue-white snow make the night so bright “you could read in the dark.” show less

I am giving this book 3 stars because I love Gary Paulsen and his other books on dogsledding. This one I believe is meant for a children's book to capture the joy of dogsledding at night. An adult familiar with his other books and a good background in sledding would get it and probably feel it. The illustrations are nice. Unfortunately, if I was reading it to a child, depending on their age, it may be tough to hook them info it with nothing but the feeling and beauty of riding a dog sled at night.

I am giving this book 3 stars because I love Gary Paulsen and his other books on dogsledding. This one I believe is meant for a children's book to capture the joy of dogsledding at night. An adult familiar with his other books and a good background in sledding would get it and probably feel it. The illustrations are nice. Unfortunately, if I was reading it to a child, depending on their age, it may be tough to hook them info it with nothing but the feeling and beauty of riding a dog sled at night.

This book was just okay to me because I didn't really connect with it. I like dogs but I've never liked the idea of dogsleds because they seem cruel. I know that some dogs were meant to be hunting dogs or sled dogs so maybe I'm just being sensitive about it. The book was very simple and plain in my view.

On a moonlit winter night, a team of dogs pulls a sled, taking the narrator and readers on a wondrous ride through the snow, into and out of the woods. It is a ride you'll wish would never end.

iditarod