Natalie Standiford - The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto

Text copyright 1989 by Natalie Standiford
Interior illustrations copyright 1989 by Donald Cook
Cover illustration copyright 2014 by Tim Jessell
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Childrens Books, a division
of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Standiford, Natalie. The bravest dog ever : the true story of Balto / by Natalie Standiford ;
illustrated by Donald Cook.
p. cm. (Step into reading. bdg.)
ISBN 978-0-307-97886-8 (ebook)
1. bdg.)
ISBN 978-0-307-97886-8 (ebook)
1.

Balto (Dog)Juvenile literature. 2. Sled dogsAlaskaNomeBiographyJuvenile literature.
3. DiphtheriaAlaskaNomePreventionJuvenile literature.
[1. Balto (Dog). Sled dogs. 3. Dogs. 4. 4.

DiphtheriaAlaskaNome.
5. AlaskaHistory18671959.]
I. Cook, Donald, ill. II. Title. III.

Series: Step into reading. Step 3 book.
SF428.7 .S7 2003 636.73dc21 2002013216 This book has been officially leveled by using the F&P Text Level Gradient Leveling System.
Random House Childrens Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read. v3.1

This is a true story about a very brave dog. His name was Balto. The year was 1925. Balto lived in Nome, Alaska.

Nome was a frontier town. Most of the year it was buried under ice and snow. In winter there was no way to travel through all that ice and snow. Not on planes or trains or boats or cars. The only way to travel in Alaska was by dog sled. Balto was a sled dog.

He worked for a gold-mining company not far from Nome. He helped carry food and tools to the miners. It was a good life for a sled dog. Baltos driver was named Gunnar. Gunnar made Balto his lead dog. The lead dog runs in front of the team.

He follows the trail. All the other dogs do whatever the lead dog does. So the lead dog has to be the smartest and strongest dog of all. One cold winter day a terrible thing happened in Nome. Two children got very sick. Their parents called the doctor.

He was the only doctor in the whole town. When the doctor saw the children he was very worried. The children had a terrible sickness. It was called diphtheria (dif-THEER-ee-ah). The doctor did not have the medicine he needed. Without the medicine many other people in Nome would get diphtheria and die too. Without the medicine many other people in Nome would get diphtheria and die too.

The doctor knew he had to get some medicinefast. The hospital in Anchorage, Alaska, had the medicine. But Anchorage was 800 miles away. The doctors in Anchorage put the medicine on a train. But soon the train got stuck in the deep snow. The train was still 700 miles from Nome! The people of Nome held a meeting.

Everyone was very scared. What are we going to do? asked the doctor. We have to get that medicine. At last someone said, What about a dog-sled relay? When one team of dogs gets tired, a new team will be ready to take over. The room buzzed with excitement. That did seem like the quickest way to get the medicine.

But the doctor frowned. It will still take about fifteen days. Thats a long time. Too long. Maybe the doctor was right. But there was no other choice.

So the mayor spoke over the radio. Please help! he said. We need the best drivers and dogs to help save our town! Gunnar heard the mayor on the radio. Gunnar knew he had the best dog team and the best lead dog. Balto would come to the rescue. On January 27, 1925, the race to Nome began.

Twenty-one dog teams were in the relay. Each team waited at a different stop. The first driver took the medicine from the train. He wrapped it in fur to keep it from freezing. Then he drove his dogs as fast as he could to the second stop.