Winterdance

[TedB]

Winterdance, The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod by Gary Paulson (1995)

This is the favorite book that I read last year. It is a funny tale about learning how to race sled dogs, and going off to Alaska to run the 1000 mile long Iditarod race. The book has the feel of a good campfire story, with plenty of disasters to keep things interesting. His wife seems to be a very patient person.

There is also a follow up book called "Puppies, Dogs, and Blue Northers: Reflections on Being Raised by a Pack of Sled Dogs" (2002), which is a childrens book that provides some additional background. Most of Gary Paulson's books are written for children.

[DebW]

Woodsong is another of Paulsen's books about running sleddogs. Starts where he gets into dogsledding, describes some memorable training runs and what he learns from the dogs. Some interesting an eerie stuff about the north woods in winter. The last 1/3 of the book describes his first Ididarod race. Highly recommend this one too.

[steve hiker]

Just got done with Winterdance. It's excellent. Very well written and entertaining.

Too bad he wasn't able to go back for a third race. And I was wondering how he did in his second Iditarod.