Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Lippincote

As my son neared his teens he stopped reading. He complained that books either did not have enough action, or were not funny. This book has both. You get all the thrills of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, plus a lot of laughs.

I work in the school system and I was very familiar with Paulsen's books, but this book was still a surprise.

The first half centers on Paulsen's attempt to train his unruly team. The reader sniggers through this part of the book. He is hopeless, his team are worse. The second half is about the race itself where, behind his back, Paulsen is voted the entrant least likely to finish.

As it turns out, he is the entrant least likely to start. He's chosen his lead dog badly, and two blocks into the race this dog decides to take the team on 'his own tour of discovery' of downtown Anchorage. '15 dogs and a fully loaded Iditarod sled' crashing through peoples' backyards, running over domestic pets, and dragging down washing, before rejoining the race route two hours later.

At this point in the story you stop sniggering, and begin guffawing. And you carry on guffawing till the end.

I discovered this book when, in desperation, I typed in 'funny books' on Google. It made my son howl with laughter, and everyone I have recommended it to has loved it.