Slacks for Ella Funt

When I started planning the Quebec trip and the dogsledding, my parents recommended this book. Paulsen ran the Iditarod, which was a little more extreme than the hour-long dogsledding jaunt we were planning on, but a lot of things, particularly the mentality of the dogs, was similar to our experience.

Winterdance is strongest when Paulsen simply tells his story—the adventure is bizarre enough that it needs very little embellishment, particularly his near-death experiences. When he starts to was poetic, it gets a little corny.