Book+Review

Trade Book Review


 * Title: **//The Great Serum Race: Blazing the Iditarod Trail //
 * Author: **Debbie S. Miller
 * Illustrator: **Jon VanZyle
 * Publisher: **Walker & Company
 * Copyright: **2002

This book tells the story of the treacherous journey taken by 20 mushers and 160 dogs in order to save the town of Nome, Alaska from a Diphtheria outbreak in 1925. A somewhat detailed description of the journey and the hardship and dangers faced by these brave dogsled teams is the baseline for the text. The courageous journey of these heroic men and animals is commemorated every year by the Iditarod race held in Alaska. Had it not been for their outstanding heroism, the fate of the 1400 people inhabiting Nome at that time would have been grim.

Social Studies (epidemic, Alaskan history, Alaskan geography, Alaskan culture, community, jobs, people in history, Iditarod, peoples of Alaska, clothing, communication, transportation, direction/distance), Science (disease, medical history, Alaskan environment, animal behavior, dog breeds, northern lights, weather)
 * Subject Areas/Concepts: **


 * Vocabulary: **
 * mischievous || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">escape || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">musher || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">eventually ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">boundless || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">desperately || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">miserable || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">symptoms ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">diphtheria || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">epidemic || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">quarantine || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">antitoxin ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">official || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">historic || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">emergency || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">wilderness ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">transport || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">serum || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">parka || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">locomotive ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">freight || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">blubber || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">mukluks || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">intercept ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">pedestrian || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">anxiously || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">roadhouse || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">determination ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">dogsled || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">average || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">twilight || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">eerie ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">particle || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">victim || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">frantically || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">rendezvous ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">plastered || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">treacherous || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">disease || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">rations ||

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Culture; Time, Continuity, and Change; People, Places, and Environments; Individual Development and Identity; Power, Authority, and Governance; Production, Distribution, and Consumption; Science, Technology, and Society; Civic Ideals and Practices
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">NCSS Themes: **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">PA Standards: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PA 5.1.6.B **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Explain the importance of the rule of law for the protection of individual rights and the common good in the community, state, nation, and world.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PA 5.1.6.J **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Describe how the government protects individual and property rights and promotes the common good.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PA 5.3.6.C **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Explain how government actions affect citizens’ daily lives.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PA 7.1.6.B.4 **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Describe and locate places and regions: Ways in which different people view places and regions.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PA 7.1.6.B.5 **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Describe and locate places and regions: Community connections to other places.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PA 7.2.6.A **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Describe the physical characteristics of places and regions.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PA 7.3.6.A **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Describe the human characteristics of places and regions by their population characteristics.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PA 7.3.6.B **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Describe the human characteristics of places and regions by their cultural characteristics.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PA 8.1.6.B **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Explain and analyze historical sources.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PA 3.1.7.E **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Identify change as a variable in describing natural and physical systems.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PA 3.3.7.A.3 **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Describe the similarities and differences that characterize diverse living things: Account for adaptations among organisms that live in a particular environment.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PA 3.5.7.C **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Describe basic elements of meteorology.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PA 3.6.7.A.2 **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Identify and explain the impact that a specific medical advancement has had on society.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PA 3.8.7.A.3 **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Identify and explain improvements in transportation, health, sanitation and communications as a result of advancements in science and technology and how they affect our lives.

//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">(NOTE: Some PA Literacy Standards might also apply depending on the actual use of this text within the classroom setting.) //

Initially, I searched the standards to see if there were standards that could be tied into this text for the grade levels I was looking at. Then, I checked the level of this book through the Scholastic website. This is the interest level that is listed as appropriate for this trade book. Prior to checking the website, I was leaning toward a fourth- or fifth-grade lesson. Further, I thought about the lessons and activities in which I might incorporate this trade book and evaluated whether they were developmentally appropriate. Suggested Use in the Classroom: ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">There are many uses for incorporating this text in a classroom setting. When choosing this particular trade book, I didn’t realize at the time just how many ways it could be included in a lesson plan or unit plan. I will just name a few. It could be used as an engagement text in a unit based on the exploration of the human condition prior to certain medical or technological advances. Another use would be as a resource for individual student research projects on the history of the peoples or places of the United States. Yet another use for the text would be to explore how people and animals have worked together to change history. Additionally, it could also be incorporated into a lesson of how a community or communities work together toward a common good or goal. There are still other ideas too numerous to mention. It is proof that trade books are a wonderful resource for a classroom teacher.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Grade Level: **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">3rd through 6th grade
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">