Woof, woof, howl!  Hello Boys and Girls!

As you have probably already heard, the 2012 Iditarod is the 40th running of Iditarod!  Isn’t that amazing?  We can’t wait for you to learn all about the past 40 years and about this year’s Iditarod.  Mushing, dog care, and the Iditarod have changed over the years. Even the way we follow the race has changed.  Can you believe it? ‘Long ago’ people couldn’t even follow  the race on the Internet! I remember those days!  Woof, woof, howling for the good old days!

Did you know that at first, hardly anyone knew about the race at all!  During the first race, people didn’t even know when or if the mushers would reach Nome!  Once schools wanted to follow the race, Iditarod staff sent fax messages about the race to the schools that requested information. I even wrote messages for the teachers and students to read!

Today, thousands and thousands of people from all around the world follow the race!  Thanks to the Internet, people living around the world can ‘almost be there’ by having up to the minute news at the www.iditarod.com website or by watching Insider Video or following the GPS Tracker.

It’s time for you to get ready to learn all about the past 40 years!  We can’t wait to tell you stories from the past!

And since I’m ‘howling’ about the past, I wanted you to know that there is a brand new book that has been released over the  summer.  The book is about Joe Redington, Sr.  Joe is remembered as the ‘Father of Iditarod‘.  A book about a person is called a biography.

The author of the new book is Katie Manglesdorf.  She worked on this book for about 15 years!  Katie knew Joe and his wife, Vi.  Joe was excited that Katie was writing this book. Joe and Katie had many long talks.  Those talks helped Katie write the biography of Joe Redington, Sr.  After Joe passed away in 2000, Katie kept working on the book.  She had many long talks with Vi.  Katie didn’t stop with taking to Joe and Vi, she also talked with Joe and Vi’s family members.  This book was a ‘labor of love’ and Katie is very proud to have now published the book.  By the way, Katie used to be a teacher.  That’s one reason this is such a great book!  Katie knows what children and adults love to read!

The name of the book is Champion of Alaskan Huskies. The book can be ordered at Iditarod’s store.  I can’t wait to get my paws on the book and give it a read!  Although I’ve been around the race for many years, I know there are lots of stories that I’ve never heard.  Reading the book will help me learn more about Joe and the Iditarod.   Teachers might find parts of the book good to read to students who might be to young to read the book on their own.

There you have it, boys and girls…  I’m howling to you with news about an interesting new read for students in middle school and on up as we get ready to look back on the last 40 years and celebrate the 2012 Iditarod.

Lots of Tail Wags,

Zuma