(From the book jacket)
"Winterdance is an unforgettable account of Gary Paulsen's most ambitious quest: to know a world beyond his knowing, to train for and run the Iditarod.
Fueled by an all-consuming passion for running dogs, Paulsen entered the grueling 1,180-mile race across Alaska in dangerous ignorance and with fierce determination. For seventeen days, Paulsen and his team of fifteen dogs ran through breathtaking and treacherous Arctic terrain. They crossed the barren, moon-like landscape fo the Alaskan interior and witnessed sunrises that cast a golden blaze over the vast waters of the Bering Sea. They endured blinding wind, snowstorms, frostbite, dogfights, moose attacks, sleeplessness, hallucinations—and the relentless push to go on."
Hilarious and downright scary, reading Winterdance makes one wonder how Paulsen survived to become the hugely successful author of Hatchet, the Brian Books, and Nightjohn.