Rating: 
Summary: Arctic Wonder Woman
Review: Pam Flowers has written a wonderfully honest and straight forward account of her solo 2,500-mile crossing of the Arctic by dog team from Decemer 1993 to January 1994. She re-traced Norwegian Knud Rasmussen's 1923-24 trip with two Greenlanders, one a young woman, from Repulse Bay in Canada to Barrow, in Alaska, except the Alaskan author went from west to east.
An experienced Arctic traveler,the author planned her trip to last from three to six months, but bad weather,an early break-up of ice, stalled the trip through the summer at Goja Haven on the Canadian Arctic coast. The author turned what might have been daunting to many, to a plus. Her story is a lesson in meticulous planning and adaptibility to any backpacker,long-distance hiker, or anyone thinking about an expedition to some remote location. What would you do if the fuel for your stove was tainted? How would you handle the fact that you still had nearly three hundred miles of ocean to cross, and the ice was breaking up?
I think the book compares to Arlene Blum's Annapurna, for a story of tenacity, fear, perseverance, humor, anger, frustration, and trust. It's a woman's story of success in the face of nay-sayers, as the author concludes, her greatest reward of realizing her dream was that of self-respect.
And her story merits our respect, too.
Rating: 
Summary: Inspiring.
Review: The more I read this book, the more convinced I became that this sort of adventure was not for me (not that I've really been tempted). But crossing the artic by dog sled was Ms. Flowers' dream, and the further I read the more I respected her for her courage and persistance. Her dream was downright risky and life threatening. Her book puts these risks and the possibility of death in perspective, as simply things to deal with in facing her dream. There's a lesson to be learned here, about taking risks in our own lives. I won't recommend this book to everyone, but my friends who appreciate courage and finding your own way will certainly hear from me.
Rating:
Summary: It kept me on the edge of my seat!
Review: This book grabbed my attention and held it right to the end. I kept wondering if Pam Flowers and her dog team were actually going to complete their expedition, and I worried about the dogs, especially Douggie, a lot. This story stirred emotion: pride. Perhaps even the same pride Pam must have felt at the end of her adventure. Reading this book makes you believe that if you really want to accomplish something, you can, if you just set your mind to it. In the end, I felt as if I'd made nine new friends.
Rating:
Summary: A remarkable story ...
Review: This remarkable author relates an ancient saga of northern courage in a 20th century setting, the frozen arctic rim of the North American continent. Pam Flowers, respiratory therapist by profession but dog musher by choice, lived a lifelong dream when she, her dogs, and supply-laden sleds made a 2500-mile trek above the Arctic Circle from Barrow in Alaska to Repulse Bay on the northwestern shore of Canada's Hudson Bay.
Alone with a tandem pair of dogsleds pulled by the eight Husky-mix dogs she trained herself, Flowers spent more than a year en route. She left Barrow Feb. 14, 1993, and mushed triumphantly - and gratefully - into the Inuit village on Hudson's Bay Jan. 9, 1994. The Mayor and ten others from the small settlement came out to greet and congratulate her. To Flowers, who had spent so long alone on the trek, the group seemed like a crowd.
It is the spirit of adventure that motivates the courage and daring of the small, 100-pound woman who is pictured engulfed by her bulky arctic gear and huge insulated boots. Her notes and photos of the careful planning and training for that epic journey clearly convey the danger, the excitement and the moments of trepidation when facing the barren and forbidding arctic.
This determined little woman has run the famed 1200-mile Iditarod Race to Nome, Alaska in 1983. "I ran," she writes, "not to win, but to learn about caring for dogs on long journeys." She put the knowledge she gained into two later, successful trips to the Magnetic North Pole and several trips along the northern coast of Alaska. Finally came the idea to retrace the route of the historic journey of Knud Rasmussen in 1923.
To provide herself with adequate supplies for herself and her dogs for such a long trip. Flowers mailed ahead bundles of necessities to be stashed, along with extra fuel for her little stove, at schools in settlements along her route. In return for that courtesy, on her arrival she talked to the classes about her life, her mushing, and her dogs.
Flowers' much-loved dogs, with all their individual personality traits and quirks, become the stars of this story. Their names become in the narrative as familiar as beloved characters in a novel. These are pets only in a secondary sense; first and foremost, they are work dogs born and bred and they enjoy the runs over ice and snow every bit as much as their driver. They can sense an approaching storm, sniff a polar bear and recognize the faintly distant lights of a settlement that sends them racing forward.
Every moment of the story of this journey is absorbing, even the lengthy periods of storms and whiteouts when Flowers waits them out in her tiny pyramidal tent. There are dangers and there is frustration. There is fear and there is joy. At its end Flowers felt a surge of accomplishment. She had made that trip... because she wanted to!
Rating:
Summary: "Hooked" on this book!
Review: What a great book! Can you imagine what inspiration this gives height-challenged people? Kids who may never top 5 feet have an incredible role model, female, no less, who said "I can do this," and did! I alerted a cousin who teaches jr. high in Alaska about the possible impact of this chronicle of Flowers' adventure on youth of any age and the fact that Dixon's masterful editing grips the reader no matter what the page. She was three jumps ahead of me, informing me that Alone Across the Arctic is already a Battle of the Books book in the state. My local library said they can't keep it in; that their "underground youth readership" had spread the word and it was constantly being checked out. The librarian offered gratis that it had received a School Library Journal "starred review," which is evidently a big deal in librarydom, but said that that probably had nothing to do with its popularity among youth. As a substitute teacher I am always on the alert for books that will get kids "hooked" on reading. Alone Across the Arctic, regardless of the numerous adult awards it is amassing, seems to be doing just that. Librarians and teachers know that true life adventure well told sells better than fiction. Bravo to Flowers for the courage to follow her dream and to both Flowers and Dixon for a compelling work. It's a great read!
Rating:
Summary: "Hooked" on this book!
Review: What a great book! Can you imagine what inspiration this gives height-challenged people? Kids who may never top 5 feet have an incredible role model, female, no less, who said "I can do this," and did! I alerted a cousin who teaches jr. high in Alaska about the possible impact of this chronicle of Flowers' adventure on youth of any age and the fact that Dixon's masterful editing grips the reader no matter what the page. She was three jumps ahead of me, informing me that Alone Across the Arctic is already a Battle of the Books book in the state. My local library said they can't keep it in; that their "underground youth readership" had spread the word and it was constantly being checked out. The librarian offered gratis that it had received a School Library Journal "starred review," which is evidently a big deal in librarydom, but said that that probably had nothing to do with its popularity among youth. As a substitute teacher I am always on the alert for books that will get kids "hooked" on reading. Alone Across the Arctic, regardless of the numerous adult awards it is amassing, seems to be doing just that. Librarians and teachers know that true life adventure well told sells better than fiction. Bravo to Flowers for the courage to follow her dream and to both Flowers and Dixon for a compelling work. It's a great read!
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