Dogteam [Paperback]

The Newbery Honor author, a two-time participant in the Iditarod, describes the thrill of a winter's night run with a team of sled dogs. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Kindergarten-Grade 3-There are few things more beautiful than a moonlit winter night, and Paulsen has captured that, plus the thrill of speeding across the snow via dogsled, in a text as crisp, clean, and magical as such evenings. It is the dogs' emotions, as much as the narrator's, that are evoked: the animals strain at their harnesses, singing in anticipation of the run. Ruth Wright Paulsen's illustrations show the nuances of canine behavior in the positions of ears, tails, lolling tongues, and flashing paws. The swift, strong, smiling creatures are one with the white and blue-black night; on one double-page spread, the aurora borealis in ghostly greens is their background. Dogteam reads aloud beautifully, but its poetry will be best understood through one-on-one sharing with an adult. All who see and hear it will, for a few moments, join in the winter run. Children who live in areas without snow will experience the wonder of its season through this book. For those living in cold climates, it may inspire a nighttime ski, or skate, or at least a moonlit walk, and they will understand the dogs' dilemma: although it is comforting to come home to warmth and firelight, something in them yearns to run forever.
Carla Kozak, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Ages 4-7. As Paulsen takes his dog sled for a run on a winter's night, he carries readers along through the moonlit landscape. Immediacy and brevity mark each part of the poetic telling of the adventure--harnessing the exuberant dogs, riding through the woods and across a frozen lake, watching the wolves silently appear and disappear, and returning home. The illustrations include pen-and-ink drawings of the dogs, the sled, and sometimes the driver, tinted with watercolor and set against watercolor backgrounds. The painting is more effective than the pen-and-ink work, and the two art styles don't always blend well. As a whole, however, the book re-creates an experience unusual in picture books. Teachers might try reading it to children who consider themselves too old for picture books, particularly those who know Paulsen's other work. Carolyn Phelan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The author and his wife celebrate their longtime avocation of training sled dogs (Gary Paulsen has twice run the Iditarod). The text--crisp phrases, peremptory as barks, contrast with lyrical descriptions of the dogs' single-minded dedication to rushing onward--follows one glorious moonlit run, from harnessing and setting the dogs free (``The dance. Through the trees, in and out, the sled whipping after them through the trees with no sound but the song of the runners, the high-soft-shusshh-whine of the runners'') to the return home and the dogs, still in harness, singing (``Did you did you did you did you.../Did you want it to last forever?''). Ruth Paulsen's individualized, delicately drawn dogs are all tension and action, beautifully set off by a more generalized watercolor background of forest, snow, and sky. An inspired collaboration vividly re-creating an exhilarating experience. (Picture book. 4+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"The energy and movement of the piece pull the reader right along through the entire race through the magical time and space to the homeward finish."
--The Horn Book Magazine

"The book recreates an experience unusual in picture books."
--Booklist --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

On a moonlit winter night, a team of dogs pulls a sled, taking the narrator and readers on a wondrous ride through the snow, into and out of the woods. It is a ride you'll wish would never end.

Through this exquisite prose poem, Gary Paulsen shares the joy, the beauty, and the grandeur of the outdoors. With his joyous text and Ruth Wright Paulsen's exuberant and expressive illustrations, Dogteam is a celebration of nature, a dance that invites everyone to join in.

"The energy and movement of the piece pull the reader right along through the entire race through the magical time and space to the homeward finish."
--The Horn Book Magazine

"The book recreates an experience unusual in picture books."
--Booklist

Gary Paulsen and painter Ruth Wright Paulsen have collaborated on many distinguished picture books, including Dogteam.