Balto and Togo: Hero Dogs of Alaska

by Helen Moss (Author) Solomon Hughes (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

It's the winter of 1924 and a diptheria outbreak is threatening the population of Nome, Alaska. The only way to stop the deadly illness from causing a full blown epidemic is to immediately deliver one million units of the diptheria antitoxin to the affected communities --a task that seems impossible given that the only way to reach any place in Alaska at this time of year is by dog sled. The stakes are high, and the snow is piling higher. Will the antitoxin make it in time? Or will the infection spread faster than they can treat it..

Follow along as Balto and Togo lead the way in this race against time to get the antitoxin and save lives.

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Hardcover
$19.99

Kirkus

True to life and compellingly dramatic.

School Library Journal

Gr 3-7--Set in the winter of 1924, this illustrated middle grade book is based on real events that took place during the diphtheria outbreak in Alaska. To prevent infection from spreading, one million units of antitoxin must be delivered as quickly as possible. But due to weather, temperature, minimal road access, distance, and isolation, the serum must travel by mushers and dogsleds. As they journey along the trail, the teams face frostbite, black holes, and trips and tangles. The details of the outbreak are shown through a variety of characters' points of view. After a telegraph is sent out asking for help, a team of huskies undertake a 600-mile round trip. Readers get to understand what the dogs are seeing and thinking as the author includes narration and dialogue from their perspectives. Additional viewpoints--from a sick child, a nurse, the mayor--round out the characters and add drama to the story. Footnotes on the bottom of several pages include detail about word definitions. Back matter includes over 10 pages of notes, reference material, and sources. VERDICT This well-researched adventure book will be out just in time for the winter. Children who enjoy animal adventure stories will love this book!--Tanya Boudreau

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Helen Moss
Helen Moss was born in 1964 and grew up in the beautiful rolling countryside of Worcestershire and a remote corner of Saudi Arabia. Helen now lives in a village near Cambridge with her computer-scientist husband, two teenage sons and some dogs and hens. When she's not writing or thinking up her next dastardly crime (purely fictional, of course!), she likes walking in the countryside with the dogs, running (without the dogs, who just trip her over) climbing mountains and skiing down them - and reading, of course.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781250792532
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Godwin Books
Publication date
November 28, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF003060 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Animals | Dogs
JNF038090 - Juvenile Nonfiction | People & Places | Polar Regions
JNF025250 - Juvenile Nonfiction | History | United States/21st Century
Library of Congress categories
-

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