TOGO

    by

Robert

Blake

 

Bluebonnet Award – 2005 Winner



Blake, R. (2002). Togo. New York, NY: Philomel Books.

EXPOSITION: This is the true story of an Alaskan sled dog named Togo who helped his trainer, Leonhard Seppala, bring a life-saving serum to a town threatened with diphtheria.  Ever since he was a puppy, Togo showed he was a natural sled dog, and he quickly began leading Leonhard Seppala’s dog team to countless victories in sled dog races.    

  

CONFLICT: In January of 1925, Leonhard Seppala was told that the residents of a remote town in Alaska had been struck down with an epidemic of diphtheria.  They needed an antitoxin as soon as possible or they would all die; but the serum was hundreds of miles away.  Seppala was asked if he would be part of a dog sled relay that could bring the serum to the disease-ridden town.  

RISING ACTION: Seppala agreed to help, so he hitched Togo to the head of his team of sled dogs and headed off to carry the serum part of the way to its destination.

CLIMAX: But as they sped along, a terrible blizzard hit, making it almost impossible for anyone to move through the frozen Alaskan wilderness.  But with Togo’s leadership and the strength and courage of the man and his dog team, they not only did their part of the relay, but parts that were supposed to have been done by other dog teams that were not up to the challenge.  

 FALLING ACTION: Togo, Seppala and the rest of the dogs traveled hundreds of miles farther and days longer than any other dog team in the relay, bringing the serum to the outskirts of the disease-ridden town.  There, another dog sled team took over, bringing the serum to the townsfolk, thereby saving them from diphtheria.     

RESOLUTION: Even though Togo, Seppala and his team had done far more of the relay than any one else, the dog team that brought the serum the short distance into the town got all the glory.  But the people of Alaska know it was Togo who was the ultimate hero of the

historic serum run of 1925, which later inspired

Alaska’s annual Iditarod Race.

WAS THIS A WELL-ILLUSTRATED BOOK?  Author Robert J. Blake illustrated his own story.  To insure accuracy, he spent weeks traveling in Alaska, retracing the journey that Togo and his team followed.  Consequently, his pictures accurately reflect both the beauty of Togo and the other sled dogs as well as the bleak emptiness of the Alaskan wilderness through which they had to travel.  The illustrations of Togo and his teammates shows this is an author/artist who truly loves and respects dogs.   

PICTURE SOURCES:

education.wisc.edu
examiner.com
tracysworld.com
alaska-in-pictures.com
dogpostdaily.com