Sled Dog School

Sled Dog School by Terry Lynn Johnson    208 pages

Aimed at kids in middle school, I think young readers will enjoy the problems eleven-year-old Matt is having in math. I know I can relate; I struggled with math from word problems in the third grade all the way through college algebra.

Matt has a chance to redeem his failing grade. He can start a business and keep the books. At first he wasn’t sure what to do. He hated his life: parents who had gone off the grid (really off as in no electricity) on a dead-end road and facing bullies at school was just the beginning.  But one thing he loved to was drive his dog sled.  Suddenly, that’s what he knew he could do, and Matt’s Dog Sled School was born.

Matt puts up posters at school and soon he has his first client. The only problem is, he needs three. But Tubbs will do although he is less than enthused about learning how to run a dog team.

Things go awry in a number of ways, but Matt stays the course.

A quick and easy read, the story flowed smoothly. The descriptions were vivid and the tension ran high. Johnson does a good job in creating lessons for the young ones to learn without being preachy.

Sled Dog School gets 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.