Breaking Trail

by Joanne Bell

Becky has always lived with her family in a log cabin in the Yukon, but when the fur market dwindled away, her father, a dog musher and trapper, had to quit trapping and she and her family moved into town. Now her father is he doesn’t laugh or talk to anyone. He tires easily and can’t stand any noise or stress. Worse, he has lost interest in sled racing — a love that he and Becky once shared. When spring comes, the family decides to go back to their cabin for the summer. Becky’s mother hopes that going back to the mountains will cheer up Dad, but Becky has another plan. She’s going to train her own dog team to race in the Junior Quest, a challenging five-day dog race across Alaska, in hopes of making her father happy.

The journey to the cabin will be a test for both Becky and her dogs. Will they make it to the cabin before the ice breaks? Will her mother give up on her father if he doesn't get better soon? And will her parents discover the secret that she has been keeping from them?

136 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 2005

Reviews

[Sarafina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED this book! It was such a good story from the first sentence to the last! The family dynamics, how we deal with sickness, our relationships with our dogs, and the wonderful outdoors! Everyone should read this!

[Michelle Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breaking Trail is a book about overcoming. Becky does her best, despite her dads depression and negative outlook on her choices, to choose dogs for a sled team that no-one wants to train, and train them to work. They take off on a trip across the mountains to their old home in the woods in hoped the mountain air will do good for her fathers illness and it focuses on Becky's tribulations in proving to herself and her father she can do it. I found the story compelling.

[Madison Daub · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another book from my book commercial.