I chose Ed Hopkins as my musher to follow during the Iditarod.  He is from Canada.  He is a rookie.  He likes the outdoors, and he likes to go hunting.  He had the best mustache.  Ha ha.

I read a lot of Iditarod books during the race.  One was Silver.  The setting for Silver was in their backyard in a cold place.  There are dog characters and people characters.  The girl really likes the dogs.  I predicted that the girl was going to get a dog because of the picture of the puppy on the cover.

I also read Iditarod Dream.  Dusty is a boy who lived in a log cabin.  He had seventeen sled dogs.  He trained hard, and he won first place in the Junior Iditarod.

I learned a lot about mushing.  The mushers take good care of the dogs.  They put on little slippers called booties.  Sometimes they run all night.  They warm up their food and put it in the bowls.  They give them treats along the way.

I made a list of strong Iditarod verbs to use in my writing.  I chose jump, yip, blow, yell, slide, fall, slip, scream, sleep, walk, and cheer.

I compared the sport of mushing to another sport I enjoy, skiing.  Mushing is different because a musher sometimes uses a pole to help the dogs push, you use a sled, and dogs are an important part.  Skiing is different because you use skis and there are no animals.  They are the same because they both have poles and they are both cold weather sports.