My darling daughter, Eyebright, is having a poetry contest. Stop by and leave your entry!
Winterdance, The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod was written by Gary Paulsen.
This is an excellent read if you are wanting to know what it takes to run the Iditarod and why anyone would even want too. Gary Paulsen can write about his own accidents, mistakes, and ignorance with a sense of humor.
I have been reading this book outloud to my four children and there have been times that we laughed so hard we cried. How a man can keep on trying when it would appear that all is against him, even himself, is true madness.
While practicing for the race Gary writes about running into skunks that wind up squirting him in the face, up to eight times in one night! At the start of the race he describes how his dogs left the trail and became a menace to the town of Anchorage, and then later leaving the trail and running an extra 120 miles to the already near 1500 mile race.
This is NOT a book you just hand over to your children. Gary Paulsen in not a Christian, all references to God are with a little g and there is quite a bit of foul language. Just what does one say when eight skunks spray you in the face? Understand that I am not at all condoning foul language, but I believe I just might be tempted to use it under those conditions.
While reading aloud I've done quite a bit of editing, and it really isn't all that hard to do. Usually curse words can be omitted without needing to add a subsitute, as they are not used for description. Other words can be changed to another word of the same meaning, like urinate. It gets that brain thesaurus working!
I recommend checking this book out from you local library. It's a fun read, but not something I want my children picking up and reading for themselves on a boring day. |
Mar. 13, 2006
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Thanks for the review.
Mar. 14, 2006
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unrelated comment
Mar. 14, 2006
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Blessings,
Dianne