Yukon Quest: The Story of the World’s Toughest Sled Dog Race
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By Lew Freedman. 2010. Epicenter Press. 224 pages. $14.95 softcover. Available at booksellers nationwide and www.epicenterpress.com.
The Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race is an annual 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race between Fairbanks and Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territory. It runs in the shadow of the older, more established Iditarod Sled Dog Race.
The Quest has fewer checkpoints, longer wilderness runs and more campouts than the Iditarod. It crosses three mountain passes, including the dreaded 3,685-foot (1,123-meter) Eagle Summit.
In Yukon Quest: The Story of the World’s Toughest Sled Dog Race, Lew Freedman reveals how the race was dreamed up by a small group of mushers over beer and hamburgers at the Bull’s Eye Saloon near Fairbanks. One of the men who helped organize the first run in 1984 says, “We wanted more of a bush experience, a race that would put a little more woodsmanship into it.”
Yukon Quest highlights the first 26 years of the race.
Lew Freedman has written 22 books about the Far North, including eight about sled-dog racing.
The Fishes & Dishes Cookbook: Seafood Recipes and Salty Stories from Alaska’s Commercial Fisherwomen
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By Kiyo and Tomi Marsh and Laura Cooper. 2010. Epicenter Press. 144 pages. $19.95 softcover. Available at booksellers nationwide and www.epicenterpress.com.
Sisters Kiyo and Tomi Marsh were fishing in the Bering Sea on Tomi’s 78-foot commercial fishing boat, the Savage, when they decided to combine their seafood recipes with personal stories of other fisherwomen they had met into a book. What began as a joke about “cooking in the ditch” (a ditch is the trough of a sea wave) became The Fishes & Dishes cookbook: Seafood and Recipes and Salty Stories from Alaska’s Commercial Fisherwomen.
Tomi owned and skippered the Savage, and Kiyo ran the deck and galley. Taking advantage of the bountiful seafood around them, they each turned out creative dishes. In addition to sharing 80 recipes, the Marshes describe adventures of women who work in America’s most dangerous industry. They relate stories about the dangers of running their boats and of working on deck in the Bering Sea. They have been involved in most of the Alaskan fisheries, including ones for king crab, black cod, halibut and salmon. Recipes include “Jade Dumplings with Coconut Curry Sauce,” “Baked salmon Wellington” and “Miso Glazed Bblack Cod.”
Beyond Road’s End: Living Free in Alaska
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By Janice Schofield Eaton. 2009. Alaska Northwest Books. 392 pages. $18.95 softcover. Available at booksellers nationwide.
In the spring of 1981, a recession was underway in the rest of the United States and oil money had just begun flowing into the Alaska state budget, as Janice Schoefield Eaton and her husband, Ed, sold their belongings and headed north to Alaska. They were seeking a life closer to the land where they could focus on living, rather than earning a living. They brought with them his building experience, her work ethic, some optimism and love and little else.
In Homer, Alaska, at the end of the road, Janice and Ed found open arms in the local population. “Yankees take forever to accept strangers,” Ed said. “Here we’re new kids in town, and all we get are open doors. People have time for each other.”
Beyond Road’s End chronicles the couple’s experience building a home and learning about local plants, people and wildlife. Short episodic chapters share stories about Ed, for whom pies solve everything, and Janice who simply won’t accept defeat. The book is part love story, part adventure and part natural history.
Janice is a former contributor to Alaska and the author of Discovering Wild Plants and its pocket guide version, Alaska’s Wild Plants.
The Sourdough Man: An Alaska Folktale
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By Chérie B. Stihler with illustrations by Barbara Lavallee. 2010. Sasquatch Books. 32 pages. $10.95 softcover. Available at booksellers nationwide and www.sasquatchbooks.com.
“Run as fast as the river—run as fast as you can,
But you won’t catch me; I’m the Sourdough Man!
I ran away from Grandmother, and I can run away from you.”
So sings the cheeky Sourdough Man in Chérie B. Stihler’s adaptation: The Sourdough man: An Alaska Folktale. This version gives the popular children’s story about a cookie an Alaskan spin. Grandmother wants to bake a special sourdough treat for Qujhaaq, but her creation has a mind of its own. As the Sourdough Man runs away, a trail of native animals—an ox, lemming and caribou drawn to his delicious scent—gives chase.
Watercolor illustrations by Barbara Lavallee illustrate this tale and its unique Alaskan tone, with depictions of the native animals and landscape of the North.
Stihler is the author of five children’s books including The Giant Cabbage. She lives in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Barbara Lavallee is the illustrator of the best-selling Mama, Do You Love Me? She lives in Anchorage, Alaska.
Amazing Alaska!: A Raven’s Eye View
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By Deb Vanasse with illustrations by K.E. Lewis. 2010. Sasquatch Books. 48 pages. $12.95 softcover. Available at booksellers nationwide and www.sasquatchbooks.com.
Join tour guide Cornelius Randolf Raven on a journey that includes Alaska’s flora, fauna, history, geology and folklore. Amazing Alaska!: A Raven’s Eye View by Deb Vanasse and K.E. Lewuis is geared toward 7-11 year-olds, but will fascinate readers of all ages.
Packed with amazing facts that are anything but dry (Do you know temperature determines a snowflake’s shape, how to tell a black bear from a brown bear, or that mosquitoes bite the warmest person?), this book will have young (and not-so-young) explorers turning the pages to learn more.
Interspersed with the opinionated C.R. Raven’s quirky narrative are boxes with facts and stories, and fun science experiments that kids can do at home — like planning for gold or making their own permafrost.
K.E. Lewis’ colorful illustrations lend a humorous delightful tone to every page. Simple enough for kids to follow, but packed with trivia to keep parents engaged, Amazing Alaska is a thorough first look at a remarkable land.
Survival at 40 Below
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By Debbie S. Miller with illustrations by Jon Van Zyle. 2010. Bloomsbury. 40 pages. $18.89 hardcover. Available at booksellers nationwide and www.walkeryoungreaders.com.
Local author Debbie Miller returns with fascinating and frigid follow up to the award-winning Arctic Lights, Arctic Nights.
The Alaskan picture book duo—Miller and illustrator Jon Van Zyle—is back with Survival at 40 Below, a look at the long arctic winter. As temperatures drop and the snow deepens, the animals that make the tundra home must ready themselves for survival.
Miller’s expert research and accessible writing will facilitate readers as Jon Van Zyle’s signature style beautifully captures these animals and their habitat.
The School Library Journal wrote of this book: “The text moves smoothly and quickly, offering interesting glimpses of varied hibernation patterns and the physical characteristics enabling some animals to survive winter’s deep chill aboveground. A good introduction to the diversity of the region’s wildlife.”
Boom Town Boy: Coming of Age on Alaska’s Lost Frontier
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By Jack de Yonge. 2010. Epicenter Press. 224 pages. $14.95 softcover. Available at booksellers nationwide and www.epicenterpress.com.
This is the witty, ironic and outspoken coming-of-age memoir of Jack de Yonge set in Fairbanks, Alaska — a once thriving little mining town slowly dying in the remote center of the vast territory in 1934. As Jack’s dad liked say, “No matter what direction you went out of town, you soon arrived in Nowhere.”
Then, World War II breaks out, and the Japanese attack Alaska. The sleepy little river town springs back to life with the arrival of thousands of U.S. soldiers, Russian lend-lease pilots and construction workers who keep the red-light district busy and the bars rocking around the clock.
The son of a hardwareman at the N.C. Company and a black Irish daughter of the gold rush, de Yonge is a fist-fighting, music-loving altar boy who discovers his own truths about sex, religion, racism and how the world works. His earthy story describes how war arrives in a small Alaska town next to Nowhere—and nothing is ever the same again.
Recent Mammals of Alaska
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By S.O MacDonald and Joseph A. Cook. 2010. University of Alaska Press. 339 pages. $45 hardcover. Available at booksellers nationwide and online.
From the polar bear and the gray wolf to the walrus and river otter, there are 115 species of mammals in Alaska that have never been fully catalogued until now. Biologists Joseph A. Cook and Stephen O. MacDonald have compiled here the first comprehensive guide to all of Alaska’s mammals, big and small, endearing and ferocious.
Through extensive fieldwork and research the authors have produced a unique and authoritative reference. Detailed entries for each species include distribution and taxonomic information, status, habitat, and fossil history. Appendices include quick reference listings of mammal distribution by region, specimen locations, conservation status, and the incidence of Pleistocene mammals. The guide is generously illustrated with line drawings by Alaskan artist W. D. Berry and includes several maps indicating populations and locations of species.
Mammals of Alaska will be an accessible, easy to use source for scholars and hobbyists alike.