Sojo. Pam Flowers
SOJO
Memoirs of a Reluctant Sled Dog
With help from
Pam Flowers
Illustrations by
Bill Farnsworth
To Doug Pfeiffer, who always gave me a fair chance.
Text © 2016 by Pam Flowers
Illustrations © 2016 by Bill Farnsworth
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Flowers, Pam, author. | Farnsworth, Bill, illustrator.
Title: Sojo : memoirs of a reluctant sled dog / by Pam Flowers ; illustrated by Bill Farnsworth.
Description: Portland, Oregon : Alaska Northwest Books, [2016] | Summary: A sled dog on an Alaskan dog team relates her exciting adventures, including when explorer Pam Flowers and the team set out alone across the Arctic.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016006798 (print) | LCCN 2016027305 (ebook) | ISBN 9781943328536 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781943328543 (e-book) | ISBN 9781943328550 (hardbound)
Subjects: LCSH: Sled dogs—Juvenile fiction. | CYAC: Sled dogs—Fiction. | Dogs—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ10.3.F667 So 2016 (print) | LCC PZ10.3.F667 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016006798
Published by Alaska Northwest Books Press®
An imprint of
P.O. Box 56118
Portland, Oregon 97238-6118
503-254-5591
Editor: Michelle McCann
Designer: Vicki Knapton
Contents
Mischief, Adventure, and Sled Dog School
Introduction
My name is Sojo (that’s SO-jo, not SO-ho). For much of my life I was a sled dog on an Alaskan dog team and I had lots and lots of exciting adventures. This is my first book.
When you see a dog team in a movie or a book or maybe even in real life, you think it’s just a bunch of dogs pulling a sled. But there’s a lot more to it than that. There are lead dogs and swing dogs and wheel dogs and they all have important jobs. When I first saw a dog team, I didn’t think I was smart enough to do any of those jobs. In fact I didn’t even want to be a sled dog, but my human had other ideas. Turns out there’s one more position called a team dog and they work in the middle of the team and just pull. That’s where I worked. But even then I have to admit I was a reluctant sled dog.
Since team dogs don’t have many responsibilities, I usually had plenty of time to look around and watch the other dogs. I always knew what they were thinking because I have a dog-given ability to silently communicate with other dogs. One day while I was hanging around the dog lot daydreaming I got this terrific idea: I should write a book about my life. I’m going to take you behind the scenes. You’ll read about team meetings, petty spats, and mended friendships. You’ll learn about amazing acts of courage and discover who the real heroes were on our team.
All the stories in this book are true. Well, okay, I admit I took a few liberties