Dogteam

Rating:
Summary: Stunning
Review: Author Gary Paulsen ran the Iditarod dogsled race across Alaska twice, so when he says "Nothing in running dogs is quite so beautiful as a night run," he knows of what he speaks. We have a dog sled race up in this neck of the woods each year, and I have watched sleds racing along a wooded path by moonlight. That experience is captured in "Dogteam," as Paulsen tells of the experience in a prose poem that tries to communicate to the rest of us what it is like to run your dogs through the snow to get home on a cold night with a full moon. The illustrations, by Ruth Wright Paulsen, are done in ink and watercolor. She manages a seventy-dog kennel and helps train Iditarod dogs with her husband, Gary, so you have to look at these drawings and wonder which of their charges have ended up in this book. This is a book that those who love Huskies and the sight of them mushing through the snow, will enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Taking your dogsled on a moonlit night run
Review: Author Gary Paulsen ran the Iditarod dogsled race across Alaska twice, so when he says "Nothing in running dogs is quite so beautiful as a night run," he knows of what he speaks. We have a dog sled race up in this neck of the woods each year, and I have watched sleds racing along a wooded path by moonlight. That experience is captured in "Dogteam," as Paulsen tells of the experience in a prose poem that tries to communicate to the rest of us what it is like to run your dogs through the snow to get home on a cold night with a full moon. The illustrations, by Ruth Wright Paulsen, are done in ink and watercolor. She manages a seventy-dog kennel and helps train Iditarod dogs with her husband, Gary, so you have to look at these drawings and wonder which of their charges have ended up in this book. This is a book that those who love Huskies and the sight of them mushing through the snow, will enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning
Review: Beautiful illustrations and vivid, descriptive sentences! I purchased this book to teach my first graders about descriptive writing. They were in awe of the book! Living in the south, most of them have never even seen snow or even heard of dog sledding. After having been dog sledding myself I knew I had to find a way to share the experience and this book was it! It is truly one of my favorites!

Rating:
Summary: An excellent picture book
Review: DOGTEAM is a beautifully illustrated, as well as beautifully, simply, dramatically written book. It is not exactly a children's picture book, but more for lovers of dogs of all ages. Gary Paulsen is the author and retired dogsledder, who is most remembered for his young adult books such as HATCHET and DOGSONG. Ruth Wright Paulsen is his wife and the spectacular watercolor illustrator of the book. The picture book seems to be based on Paulsen's midnight adventures with his beloved dogteam, and readers will feel as if they are running alongside the dogteam, the sled whispering behind them. A great book.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent picture book
Review: DOGTEAM is a beautifully illustrated, as well as beautifully, simply, dramatically written book. It is not exactly a children's picture book, but more for lovers of dogs of all ages. Gary Paulsen is the author and retired dogsledder, who is most remembered for his young adult books such as HATCHET and DOGSONG. Ruth Wright Paulsen is his wife and the spectacular watercolor illustrator of the book. The picture book seems to be based on Paulsen's midnight adventures with his beloved dogteam, and readers will feel as if they are running alongside the dogteam, the sled whispering behind them. A great book.

Rating:
Summary: A book for all ages
Review: Gary Paulson's Dogteam is a beautifully written prose poem that describes a dogteam's running on a cold winter's night. As the author takes the reader across the moonlit trail, the sensory, descriptive words make you feel you are truly on the trail with the team. The watercolor illustrations by Ruth Wright Paulson capture the eagerness the dogs feel for running at night. I use this book with third grade students to model the use of descriptive language in writing. The children love the book and read it over and over.