Title: Black Star, Bright Dawn Author: Scott ODell Pages: 103 Reading Level: 10 & up Star Rating:

The third book Ive read by Scott ODell, Black Star, Bright Dawn had huskies in it. What other excuse did I need?

The Story. Bright Dawn is an eighteen year old Eskimo girl. Her mother named her for the bright morning upon which she was born. Black Star is a sled dog part wolf, part Siberian husky. He was named for the black star which decorates his creamy white forehead. Together they are a team. After Bright Dawns father, Bartok, survives a nearly fatal hunting accident, he moves their family to the larger city of Ikuma. There, Bartok begins training for the famous Iditarod dogsled race. It is the grandest of all dog races and its thousand mile length requires the competitors to be tough, brawny and very highly-conditioned. Bartok spends hours every day training his dogs for the race, but three weeks before it is scheduled to begin his sled tips over and breaks his leg. His sponsors do not think that he will be healed in time to participate, but the dogs are fully trained. Someone must drive them. But who? Bartok offers Bright Dawn as a substitute. After some deliberation, the sponsors agree. So, on the day of the race, Bright Dawn is at the starting line with Black Star harnessed to the lead. Will Bright Dawn and Black Star have the endurance to run the race? Are they really prepared to survive the vicious weather and aggressive wildlife? And will they win?

Discussion. While not a Christian, Black Star demonstrates great moral sensibilities. During the race, she stopped over and over to help fellow racers out of predicaments, sacrificing her own chances of winning when she could have kept going. Also, when one of her sponsors finds a way to attach a new dog to her sled (the fresh dog would give her an advantage), she unhitches him, because adding fresh dogs is against the rules. As Eskimos, several of Bright Dawns acquaintances (including her father) believe in superstitions. For example, Bartok tells of a dream that he had which he believes foretells the results of their hunting season. He later has a vision that Bright Dawn will be allowed to ride in the Iditarod race.

When Bartok goes missing, Black Dawn ties a piece of rope across the ceiling of her home. Supposedly, if the rope goes limp then her father is in great danger. If it sags completely that means that he is dead. She also hangs up a pair of boots. If the boots sway back and forth, the hunter still walks; if they stop moving, he is dead. After Black Dawn and her family move to Ikuma, the begin attending church. There was also a church where the Reverend Cartwright told us about God and the Devil, about heaven and hellfire. I got mixed up listening to him, because I had always believed in the God Sila. Sila is a mystery. He lives far apart from us, way off in nothingness. No one has ever seen him. No one has ever heard him speak. But he watches to see that we do not harm the world we live in the air and water, our friends the animals, the land and sky. If we do harm them he will become angry and all of us will vanish from the earth like mist in the morning. [pgs. 19-20] I found it interesting that the main focus of this god Silas affection is the environment rather than man. Evil, to this god, is abuse of the environment. If this sin is committed, man is harshly punished. Bright Dawns friend and companion during the race, Oteg, believes in a force called the Raven. Strangely enough, he alternately blames the Raven for evil circumstances and prays to him to solve their problems! He references the Raven quite as often as you and I might mention God and is obviously devoted to him. Towards the end of the story, Bartok hands an amulet to Bright Dawn. She hesitates and he asks her in surprise whether she no longer believes in the charms of her people. She replies that she does not believe in them as she used to. While I do not believe that superstitions and charms are a correct religious system, I found Bartoks remark to be poignant.

You have lost your faith while going to the white school, he said accusingly. *pg. 95+ Yup. Thats what happens when you submit your children to the teaching of those you disagree with! Black Dawn mildly contradicts her parents on a few occasions. They are situations where Black Dawn is entitled to having her own opinion. Conclusion. Interesting, but not necessary, Black Star, Bright Dawn tells the story of a persevering girl and her partnership with an unlikely companion.

A good read for younger ones - Black Star, Bright Dawn by Scott ODell. The story of a young Alaskan woman who comes to the rescue of her father after he becomes too ill to race in the annual dog sled run through the state of Alaska. Bright Dawn, the daughters name, at the age of seventeen beats the odds in the competition to win $50,000. She goes from fortieth place to neck and neck to the finish line. Will she win? The reader learns that winning the gold is not the only award that is important (I wont give it away to you). Bright Dawn goes through the Alaskan version of the French Tour de France with her own bicycle, her lead dog, Black Star. The two go off-course near the end

of the race, but somehow manage to pass everyone else when they realize that all of the other teams made the wrong turn in the course. Prior to the final leg of the race, Bright Dawn meets snow, blizzard, moose in the trail, and other challenges. Of course we witness Bright Stars constant sportsmanship of helping other racers when they are derailed, dogs get sick, and weather conditions require her to build an igloo for safety with others. This is a very fast read that has a nice message in the end. If you have a nephew or niece, get this book for their library. Cute!

Black Star, Bright Dawn Author: Scott O'Dell Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Boston Copyright Date: 1988 Number of Pages: 134 Reading Level: 4th and up Genre: Historical Fiction Summary Black Star's father is supposed to race in the Iditard dog sled race. He is injured and chooses his daughter to take his place in the race. Black Star races and is faced with many trials along the way. Toward the end of the race she wanders off the path and ends up on a little island that floats away from the land. Her lead dog, Bright Dawn, cannot go on any futher. She convinces him to and they find their way back to the race path. Black Star ends up finishing the race last, but her sponsers look at this as a good thing. "Thirty six mushers out of the seventy one who started didn't finish." Black Star finds good in her situation.

My Reaction I thought this book was well written like all of Scott O'Dell's books. It kept my interest the whole time and I constantly wanted to continue to turn to the next page.

My Recommendation I think any child with an interest in animals should read this book, but also non animal lovers would enjoy this book too. Problems or Conflicts

I did not see anything that would cause too much of a problem for a child to read this book. It was overall a good story.

Title: Black Star, Bright Dawn Author: Scott O'Dell Reviewer: Karen Genre: YA Fiction Rating: Love Alerts/Warnings: None Premise: "Bright Dawn must face the challenge of the Iditarod dog sled race alone when her father is injured." (King County Library System) Opinions: This is a wonderful story of an Eskimo young woman named Bright Dawn who struggles between the white world and the Eskimo world. Her father is given the opportunity to train for the Iditarod, but when he is injured Bright Dawn finds herself taking his place. This is an easy read that was intriguing and wonderfully written. I loved Bright Dawn's strength, courage, kind heart, and her willingness to trust in her lead dog, Black Star. I loved following along with her on her life-altering journey. I highly recommend this read for everyone, but especially for young women so that they may know that they can accomplish anything that they put their minds and hearts to.

After surviving being stranded on a sheet of floating ice, which the Eskimos called eewoonucks, Bright Dawns father, Bartok Machina, develops a phobia of the sea and moves the entire family from Womengo, Alaska 40 miles inland to Ikuma, Alaska. Used to hunting seal and not working for a canning company, Bartok lost interest in living. Bright Dawn and her mother convince Bartok to take the sled dogs racing. After several wins, Bartok is asked to train for the Iditarod, the grueling sled dog race from Anchorage, Alaska to Nome. Bartok and Bright Dawn train until Bartok has a sled accident and cracks his left shoulder in two places, taking him out of the race. Bright Dawn steps up and takes his place. This is her story of running the Iditarod at eighteen, one of the youngest women to travel the 1,000 miles from March through May. Black Star is one of the lead male dogs that Bright Dawn favors. He is part wolf and part Siberian husky. He was of the purest white, with a black star on his forehead and black slashes under big eyes. But of everything, it was his eyes themselves that captured me. They were ice blue, the color of the ice that floats down from the Bering Sea on the days when the sun is at its tallest. At first I thought how cold and suspicious and wild they were, looking at me from a world I had never seen and would never know. After a while, I felt that behind this look was a shadow of friendship. That changed and I saw nothing but friendliness. In this novel, there are great vocabulary words, discussion questions and WWYD questions if you were placed in the same situation as Bright Dawn. This is an excellent example of a

young person doing the right thing despite doing the easiest thing. I recommend this book for students in the fifth through eighth grade.