The Mystery on Alaska's Iditarod Trail (Real Kids! Real Places! (Paperback)) by Carole Marsh

The Mystery on Alaska's Iditarod Trail (Real Kids! Real Places! (Paperback)) Reviews

• 
  Jodie

  Good Story
  
  My son and I had to read this book together for his reading assignment. He seemed very engaged and couldn’t wait to hear what happened next. He was upset after reading Togo, that this book gave all the credit to Balto instead of Togo for saving the sick children in the 1925 Nome Serum Run. Other than that, this was a pretty good story. My son could really relate to the kids in the book and really is interested in reading more of Carole Marsh’s books.
• 
  Samantha

  I love the Iditarod and follow it every year, but I'm also not an expert on it by any means. That being said, the further I got in this book, the harder it was to suspend my disbelief. Not to mention, the author seemed to purposely get a fact wrong when it came to Balto/Togo (more on that later). Also, while it's billed as a mystery, there are zero red herrings and the book lets you know who the villain is before the kids have figured it out...
  
  This book is written for a fairly young audience and is meant to be educational, so the story often stops to explain a word or to give a fact. This kept pulling me out of the story for the more simple stuff, but I can't fault the book for it, as it's just fulfilling its main purpose.
  
  However, it being meant to be educational, why does it still insist on giving more credit to Balto than is due? I wasn't aware of Togo until recently, even though I've been following the Iditarod since 2006, but the author clearly was aware as Togo is mentioned in the Trivia section after the story is over. Instead of reinforcing the assumption that Balto did the hard part of the serum run, this book should have said that Togo did the hard part and then Balto finished. The line in the book is literally "He [Balto] was the lead dog that ran extra far and long, something like twenty hours without stopping." Togo was the dog that covered both the most dangerous part of the run and the longest.
  
  Not sure if any other facts are straight-up wrong, though some have become outdated. Can't fault the book for that, though.
  
  Now, for the "mystery." The villain gets brought in early on, appearing in the last paragraph of some of the chapters. He's so over-the-top that he's not even scary, though. Literally, he's a moustache-twirling villain: "He twirled his moustache between his forefinger and thumb." I just... Not to mention, while the villain gets a description, this other new character doesn't. Hmm... I wonder who the villain is... That's honestly the biggest problem with calling this book a mystery, is that there are no red herrings and a small cast of characters, with only one character who could actually be the villain. Also, the kids only "solve" the mystery because the villain is an idiot and is painfully obvious, rather than because the kids are smart and put any clues together.
  
  Then we come to the Iditarod itself. This is where the story really becomes impossible to believe. Mr. Rutledge had two teams of dogs being entered in the race but ended up not having a musher for the second team. Somehow, even though she's not even old enough for the Junior Iditarod, his eleven-year-old daughter becomes the musher, while THREE other kids tag along. I was confused what was going on at first, but I thought maybe they were there just for the ceremonial part of the race, as ride-alongs are an actual thing for that portion. However, nope! These four kids complete the Iditarod! Like, what?! This is a tough race for grown adults, much less kids between 7 and 11.
  
  (After this point in my ranting, I started dropping spoilers, so everything else I have to say about the book is down below.)
  
  Overall, eh... I wasn't going to be too harsh on this book, it being written for such a young audience, and with the goal being to educate, but it can't call itself a mystery when the villain is so obvious/the book outright tells you before the main characters have figured it out. Not to mention, the kids solved the mystery by chance rather than actually putting clues together. Also, the fact about Balto is wrong, which I can't overlook considering this book is meant to be educational. Then, once the Iditarod actually starts, I couldn't believe this story anymore. I laughed multiple times at how ridiculously unbelievable it became. I get in educational/historical fiction, kids often get inserted where they shouldn't be, but there was nothing believable about this insert.
  
  Halfway through the book, I was debating if it was bad enough to be rated 2 stars, or if I should leave it at 3, because of the Balto fact being wrong and the forced tension with the villain bits at the end of some of the chapters. Then the lack of a real mystery combined with the unbelievable-ness of the Iditarod portion caused my enjoyment of this book to plummet spectacularly. I literally was shaking my head in disbelief for much of the Iditarod portion. As such, I can't even give this book 2 stars, so it gets 1.
  
  
  
  
  
  SPOILERS BELOW!!!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Not only do the kids complete the Iditarod, but they place in second! Yes, they always stayed with the girl's father, but you're telling me an eleven-year-old musher and three other kids completed the Iditarod in second place? I'm sorry, but no. They would not have been allowed to mush that. They don't actually get counted in the race because of being too young, but they wouldn't have been allowed to race that, period. Just no.
  
  Then there's that weird bit where the book mentions them passing a bunch of checkpoints, including White Mountain. Don't want to mention the mandatory 8-hour layover there? Fine. But why the heck are they stopping in Safety when they're literally in 2nd and 3rd place? Some mushers do stop there for a bit, yes, but most just blow past it, as they're practically at the finish line. The person in first seemed to just be making a brief stop, so I can't say much about him, but even then, for being so desperate, he shouldn't have stopped. His stopping there seemed to literally just be so the kids could figure out he was the villain.
  
  Oh, and then there's the shoe polish. I fail to see how this actually worked. Again, I'm no expert on the Iditarod, but I'm pretty sure the dogs are occasionally checked over by other people. Not to mention, wouldn't the polish be rubbing off on other things? It took one of the kids just a few seconds to figure out it was shoe polish, and that was with a single touch.
  
  One more thing to mention, the dogs that got poisoned. They got help quickly, so I have no problems with them not taking long to recover, but they would not have been fit for the Iditarod. The number one reason mushers scratch is for the wellbeing of their dogs. You can't tell me that dogs that had just been poisoned would then be able to run over 1000 miles in a race--and to win third/first place. No.
• 
  Jenreiter

  The inaccuracies in the portrayal of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race make this book essentially useless in an Iditarod curriculum unless you want your students to point out all of the mistakes. It would appear as if Ms. Marsh did not do her homework here.
• 
  Cheryl

  Will use with 4th graders, but plot too simple.