(2) K-3 Illustrated by Giselle Potter. he Potter mother-daughter team tells the true story of Togo, an exceptional Siberian husky owned by the musher Leonhard Seppala of Nome, Alaska. An accessible text recounts Togo's somewhat tumultuous beginnings. Ultimately, Seppala made him the lead dog of his sled team hauling cargoes of food and mail. In January 1925, when Togo was almost twelve, an outbreak of diphtheria in Nome coincided with a "blasting" blizzard. Families were desperate to get medicine, and the town knew their only hope was the sled dogs. In a carefully planned relay, one hundred fifty dogs would cover the 674-mile route between Nome and Anchorage. Seppala's team, with Togo in the lead, traveled the hardest and longest part of the race, over two hundred fifty miles. "He steered his team along jagged ice-capped slopes and led them up and over a five-thousand-foot mountain pass!" The book emphasizes the role that Togo's intelligence and bravery played in the serum's record-time arrival, which saved the lives of many children. Milisande Potter crafts an exciting story and deftly weaves the history of the Serum Run of 1925 into one canine hero's tale. Giselle Potter, using ink and watercolor, perfectly captures Togo's clear-sighted determination and fearlessness. Appended with an author's note and sources.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Giselle Potter. This "blend of truth and legend" tells the story of Cher Ami, one of hundreds of homing pigeons who in WWI acted as messengers for the U.S. Army. Sent to the front lines in France, she completed twelve dangerous missions, including one in which she was badly wounded but managed to fly twenty-five miles through enemy gunfire, delivering a message that was instrumental in saving the lives of 194 soldiers. Mélisande Potter's text is concise, dramatic, and compelling, entirely matched by Giselle Potter's art--evocative watercolors that convey setting beautifully while always keeping the valiant pigeon center stage. True, it's unlikely that Cher Ami actually marched in formation alongside her human-soldier counterparts, or that she ever wore the tiny wooden leg carved for her when she lost her own leg carrying out her final mission--but it makes for very good theater, and informative closing notes from both author and artist separate fact from speculation. (One interesting fact: Cher Ami was at the time assumed to be a male pigeon but was discovered to be female after her death.) Also appended with an extensive list of sources.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022