Diphtheria Books

Togo is a puppy that wants to be a sled dog. He chases after his owner Seppala until he finally puts the puppy on the sled. Togo proves himself to be a very good sled dog, and he and Seppala win races together.

Cute as anything, let me tell you, and I appreciate a little taste of that northern culture. This was quite an informative as well as entertaining book! Togo and Seppala have clear personalities for being just a dog and a sled driver. There's a lot of emotion, and the illustrations do a great job of intensifying that emotion. It's very exciting, if a bit long, so hopefully kids would stand to listen.

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow nor gloom of night will keep this pack of hardy Arctic dogs from reaching their goal!

Togo was a beautiful male Siberian husky who was part of the team who got the serum through to Nome during the Diptheria Epidemic of 1925. His part and those of the other dogs were eclipsed by one famous husky named Balto who led the team during the last 53 miles. Togo had quite a track record. He won many dog sled races and from the time he was 8 months old, showed his independent streak by hopping fences and holding his own as a musher with larger huskies and malamutes.

A strong, hardy dog with a curly tail, Togo plays an important role in history. During the outbreak of diptheria in January of 1925, a desperate plea was sent to the Governor in Juneau, declaring an emergency. A train was loaded with the necessary serum, but snow precluded it from getting through. In those days airplanes had open cockpits. Planes did not fly to Alaska then because inclement weather precluded air lift as pilots could not survive exposure to the extreme cold. The only way for the medicine to get through to Nome was via dog sled.

Enter Togo. The hardy husky, together with his canine team mates and musher Leonhard Seppala brave atrocious weather conditions for some 350 miles to get the medicine to Nome. Togo led his team for several days with no rest until a second musher picked up where this team left off.

The illustrations are masterpieces as well as this wonderful book. It is an important part of early U.S./Alaskan history and will be treasured by all ages. Readers will feel the freezing Arctic air as those huskies and malamutes brave long distances to get the serum to Nome. The dog sled teams got the medicine there several days before the deadline date. If not for these dogs, the epidemic would have claimed many casualties. Togo has rightfully earned his honored place in history and will be treasured for time immemorial.

This book makes me think of the 1979 classic, "Ain't No Stopping Us Now." Be sure to read this with other books about Balto and the incredible race against time during the Diptheria Epidemic of 1925.

This is a wonderful true story about those who should should not be forgotten. "Togo" is a beautiful example of the blessings of sacrifice, love, devotion, and perseverence. Truely a story to touch your heart.

This is visually beautiful book that tells a beautiful story. This is a story of courage and strength. Togo's story needs to be told. I even purchased a copy for my son's elementary school library.

The book is beautiful. My son and I are following the Iditarod race electronically. In order to understand this race, we were looking into the original Great Serum Race and information about dog sledding. This is an eloquently told story based on facts that is fitting for an elementary student. The artwork is fantastic and helps pull you into the brutal winter conditions that is tied to the story.

In January of 1925, a diptheria epidemic broke out in Nome, Alaska. One Dr. Welch treated three children who were deathly ill. Since the town was under quarantine and an emergency alert was sent to the governor in Juneau outlining the need for the vaccine.

The necessary serum was in Anchorage, which was over 1,000 miles from Nome. This was during the early days of air travel and at that time no planes flew to Alaska during the winter months due to the lack of closed cockpits and the inclement weather would cost pilots their lives.

Trains were the popular mode of transportation. A train brought the serum from Anchorage to Nenana. In Nenana, the mushers and their teams of malamutes and huskies took the medicine for the rest of its cliff-hanging run to Nome.

I like the way a map of the route is included in this book and the way the dogs are introduced to readers. Balto, the most famous dog was the husky who led the team on the last leg of the journey. He has been credited with getting the medicine through in time to save the stricken children. Togo, a beautiful male husky is also featured. He was one of the huskies on the first run. Sadly, his part is eclipsed by Balto's now famous heroic journey. Still, this is not to discount what this brave curly tailed dog accomplished. Togo's stamina got the first team off to a flying start.

I like the way each musher is credited in this book; the distance of each run to Nome and each participant, musher and husky and malamute alike are listed. Each one of these people and curly tailed dogs are given their due recognition. If it had not been for those teams, the medicine would never have reached its destination before deadline. Truly a treasure for all ages. It makes me think of the 1979 song, "Ain't No Stopping Us Now."

Debbie Miller did a great deal of research before writing this book, so though it is written for children, it is a great account for all to read. I would highly recommend it to readers of all ages who are interested in dog teams and their important role in Alaska. This is the best and most acurate telling of the story of the serum run to Nome in 1925 which I have ever seen. It is a children's book in that it explains what happened from the viewpoint of children. Beyond the story, there are facts presented in the back of the book. Jon Van Zyle is a popular artist, but I did not feel that his oil paintings for this book were all that great.

Debbie Miller�s masterful retelling of the Serum Run, which saved the children of Nome, Alaska from a deadly diphtheria epidemic in 1925, goes well beyond the facts of this heroic team effort. The Great Serum Run: Blazing the Iditarod Trail includes well-researched factual information, reference tables, maps, and photographs. Miller�s narrative comes alive as she skillfully interweaves many little known fascinating details of how the mushers and their dog sled teams endured their individual treks from Nenana to Nome in such deadly weather conditions. The story behind this famous dog sled team relay was inspiration for the world famous �Last Great Race,� the Iditarod. Jon Van Zyle, the official Iditarod artist, complements Miller�s text with vivid, captivating illustrations. Readers of this book will gain a sense of the unbelievable accomplishment of these dog sled teams. People of all ages will treasure this book. The Great Serum Run: Blazing the Iditarod Trail should be included as a first resource for teachers interested in providing thought provoking discussions about the Iditarod, teamwork, and man�s interaction and dependence on animals.

About the Reviewer: Ann Morgan has taught lessons about the Iditarod in grades 2- 6 for the last 18 years, and is currently teaching at Chatham Middle School, Chatham, Massachusetts. In 2000, she was in Alaska at the Iditarod and acquired first hand knowledge of the race by following the mushers and dog sled teams with her own bush pilot from Anchorage to Nome.

The Great Serum Race, Blazing the Iditarod Trail by Debbie S. Miller with illustrations by Jon Van Zyle, the official artist of the dogsled race and a two-time participant in the Iditarod, is a children's book, ages 7 to 10, published in 2002 by Walker & Company. This has become one of my favorite books for introducing children to this amazing race of skill and endurance.

The book is based on the real events of January, 1925, when the population of Nome, Alaska, was in desperate need of diphtheria vaccine. Dr. Welch had not seen a case of diphtheria in twenty years and suddenly he had three young children very ill with the disease. Something had to be done. The community was put under quarantine and an emergency wire went out to the governor in Juneau that the town needed emergency help. This is where the mushers came in. The decision was made to bring serum from Anchorage, over 1,000 miles away, to Nome. In those days, airplanes only flew in Alaska in the summertime because they had open-cockpits and neither plane nor pilot would survive the weather. A steam engine (#66) took the serum from Anchorage to Nenana where the real adventure began. The rest of the story tells of the harrowing experiences of mushers and dogs in their race against time in getting the serum to its destination. At one point, it is believed the serum might be lost.

The front of the book includes a map of the dogsled trail from Nenana to Nome. There is also an introduction to Togo, a Siberian husky and one of the true heroes of the 1925 race. Another excellent feature included in this book, is the complete list of mushers who participated in the original race, each one's race segment, and the distance covered. The race's heroic dogs also have a page devoted to them at the end of the book. This book is a real treasure for both adults and children.

Carolyn Rowe Hill

Debbie Miller's masterful retelling of the Serum Run, which saved the children of Nome, Alaska from a deadly diphtheria epidemic in 1925, goes well beyond the facts of this heroic team effort. The Great Serum Run: Blazing the Iditarod Trail includes well-researched factual information, reference tables, maps, and photographs. Miller's narrative comes alive as she skillfully interweaves many little known fascinating details of how the mushers and their dog sled teams endured their individual treks from Nenana to Nome in such deadly weather conditions. The story behind this famous dog sled team relay was inspiration for the world famous "Last Great Race," the Iditarod. Jon Van Zyle, the official Iditarod artist, complements Miller's text with vivid, captivating illustrations. Readers of this book will gain a sense of the unbelievable accomplishment of these dog sled teams. People of all ages will treasure this book. The Great Serum Run: Blazing the Iditarod Trail should be included as a first resource for teachers interested in providing thought provoking discussions about the Iditarod, teamwork, and man's interaction and dependence on animals.

About the Reviewer: Ann Morgan has taught lessons about the Iditarod in grades 2- 6 for the last 18 years, and is currently teaching at Chatham Middle School, Chatham, Massachusetts. In 2000, she was in Alaska at the Iditarod and acquired first hand knowledge of the race by following the mushers and dog sled teams with her own bush pilot from Anchorage to Nome.

Benni and Victoria is a story that pulls you in and makes you want to find out what is going to happen next. The main character, Benni, is a foster child who has gone through many hardships. His thoughts and emotions reflect what many other foster children may feel. The story is imaginative and sends the message that each child has something special to offer. -Cynthia Miller Lovell, author of The Star: A story to help young children understand foster care, and Questions & Activities for The Star: A handbook for foster parents

I read this several times and each time found more facets of little Benni, who endures many hardships but emerges a survivor. I read it to my grandchildren and they both -- girl and boy-- enjoyed the story of little Benni and his ghost friend, Victoria. They were delighted with the end. --- Eileen Hehl

I'm a teacher who read BENNI & VICTORIA to my fifth grade class last spring. Their response was so strong that I intend to read it to this year's class, too. My class loved BENNI & VICTORIA. Every day the book was the highlight of their day, and they begged for me to read more. They liked the illustrations, too. Here are some of their comments: I think Mrs. Aust should write Benny and Victoria II! Jason L. This book was the best book I ever read in my life. My class loved the book. Robert C. BENNI & VICTORIA was a really sad book, but also it made you think life isn't always peaches and cream and doesn't always go your way. Kate A. I liked it when he got in a foster home. Now he has a sister. Danielle P. I loved (BENNI & VICTORIA) so much. I loved the characters. They were cool. Robert K. Benni is a very good boy and he helped Victoria very much. I really like BENNI & VICTORIA. Rodrigo D. I think Benny and Victoria is a great book for all ages. Cai

BENNI & VICTORIA: Friends Through Time tells the story that so many abused and neglected children have lived. I was pleasantly surprised by the charm this book held, by my hesitancy to put it down, and by the sensitivity and accuracy with which Patricia Aust wrote of the children's feelings and experiences. I was reminded that children thrive on mystery, magic and intrigue and are much better able to swallow the truth when surrounded by a well-crafted tale. This book can assist children in exploring their thoughts and feelings and further to affirm that a friendship can help soften difficult times. Reviewed in THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER, Fall 1997, by Molly Faulkner, RN, LISW, Clinical Social Worker, Programs for Children and Adolescents at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.

Readable, yet thickly and richly argued; interdisciplinary in scope, yet balanced in its organization and presentation; this book is a welcome contribution to the growing sub-disciplines within both history and science to which this book belongs. Surely, Professor Hammonds must be as exceptional in her teaching as her erudition reveals her to be in this book.

Looking for books about Alaska in anticipation of our first trip there, I stumbled onto this chronicle of the 1925 serum run - the delivery of live-saving diphtheria vaccine some 674 miles by dogsled to icebound Nome. Today's Iditarod, though it runs a somewhat different route, continues as a salute to Alaska's pioneers who connected isolated communities and keeps alive the memory of the most heroic dogsled race in history, the 1925 diphtheria serum run to Nome.

This is not dull research or pedantic writing. The story captivates the reader early, pulling one along as though he or she were riding with the serum on the 5-and-a-half-day dash - a journey that then usually took some 25 days!

You'll learn a great deal about Alaska - its geography, its weather, and its people (many of the mushers were Native Alaskans). You'll marvel at Native Alaskan culture and the methods they have used for hundreds of years to survive winters nearly eight months long in some areas. You'll understand just how terrible diphtheria could be in pre-DPT days. You'll agonize with those who finally opted to use traditional dogsled instead of the more "modern" airplane to deliver the serum. You'll discover how strong and how smart sled dogs are, as well as the requisite characteristics of a lead dog, and you'll learn how much the driver ("musher") relies on the natural abilties of the dogs - sometimes even to save his life.

Even though you know how the story ends, you'll find yourself cheering on Balto and Togo, as well as the other dog teams and their mushers, as they race against death - in Nome and on the dangerous trail there. Gay and Laney Salisbury create word pictures and a feeling of reader participation in the story very much like Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air did.

Both my wife and I very much enjoy good travel/adventure writing, and we devoured The Cruellest Miles. This is just a terrific book!

I was really intrigued when a friend told me the plot for this book and I was excited to read it. However, it was very early in the book that I realized that I would not be happy with either the plot, the character development, or writing.
The writing is probably the most frustrating. There are so many random statements made throughout the book that aren't clarified. Or, the main character will jump from thought to thought, again without explanation or well written transitions.
The Plot and character development are much like the random statements made throughout the book, poorly done.

I remember reading this book when I was in third grade- I had bought it from the school-book-fair. I was and still am a huge fan of mystery novels. I was a little unsure of the book at first but once I opened the book to read it, I couldn't stop. I stayed up late reading it until I had finished it. I remember when I was heading into middle school my mom helped me pack up all my old books, and I pulled this one out to read it again. I have read this book many times, and it still amazes me to this day.

It is one of those books that, while you are reading it, you feel as though you are right there running with her. It has good details and an amazing plot, and it really makes you feel like it is a movie you watched when you are done reading it. Even though it is for the younger age group, don't feel ashamed for picking it up to read if you are older. Like I said, I first read it when I was 8 years old and I am 20 now, and have no problem picking it up. It is a book that just grabs you; surprisingly within the first page it makes you want to read more.

I definitely recommend this book to people of ALL ages and I think that once you read it once, you will have to read it again!

I know I really like a book if I can read it more than once. This book falls into that category. I think the plot was fantastic, if maybe a tad unbelievable. There was plenty of action and suspence, and I loved seeing the modern world through Jessie's old-school eyes. I like reading alternate reality fiction a lot, and this kind of had the same feel because the world was new to Jessie. Overall, a nice, quick read.

Running Out of Time
By Margaret Peterson Haddix

Thirteen-year-old Jessie Keyser is growing up in 1844, or so she believed, until an epidemic of diphtheria broke out in her community. Jessie's mother makes a confession that their village set in the 1800's is, in reality, an experiment, set up in a modern world. The villagers were asked to live in Clifton Village. They were told they could leave at any time. They were also told that their families would always be provided with modern medicine. Now, things have changed, and Clifton has become a prison; without medication people will die of diphtheria.

Jessie is needed, to help her village, and save the lives of her sister and many other children. Jessie's mother gives her a set of clothing, including jeans and a tee shirt and helps her escape into the night.

After spending the night in a brightly lit bathroom, she joins a school group, who are actually watching her village, perform their usual duties. She sees her father working in his blacksmith shop, and watches her classmates recite. It is all Jessie can do to keep the shock out of her voice, as she asks, "Why are there so many empty seats in the classroom?"

Jessie faces a scary world, of automobiles, traffic lights, telephones, radios and televisions, as she escapes into the unknown world, of 1996. Her mission is to find a payphone and call a man who can help the village. Her mother told her that this man will call a press conference and contact the health department.

Will Jessie get caught, escaping from what has become her family's prison? Can she survive in an unknown world? Can she get help for her village? Will anyone believe her story?

At first, I thought this story was like so many other stories, but I was wrong. Running Out of Time is a fast paced story with mystery and danger at every turn.

Jill Ammon Vanderwood
author:Through the Rug
Through The Rug: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug)

Wow this was a GREAT book. You don't expect the ending, it's a very great mystery. The plot is odd but believealbe. You feel like your in Jessie's eyes the whole time, great read! Recommend it!

My wife and I recently enjoyed a 2 week vacation in Alaska and have been fastinated with mushing after visiting a few musher camps during our visit. This is an excellent read for anyone interested in mushing or Alaska.

This is a good read and as I said in the title of the review...if you love dogs you will love this book. Our dog got a ton of pets and hugs when I was reading this true well researched story.

I am doing genealogical research on one of the participants mention in "The Cruelest Miles" and found the book most help in narrowing my research. I found the book well written and documented.

Do we really need another book about the great dog-sled rescue team racing serum to Nome to save the town from a diphtheria epidemic? Why, yes, actually, we do indeed. This thrilling book recounts not only the canine and human heroes of the rescue team but tells us about the heroes in Nome, e.g., the doctor who had to play god and how he did it. Also, the Balto myth is debunked.

This is an excellent historical review of Alaska dogsledding years ago and how a medical epidemic was averted in the early 1900's. Being true, it is remarkable how interesting and exciting fact can be compared to fiction.

I can't be the only Mom that gets frustrated by this. I go to buy early reading books and encounter ONLY TV- and movie- marketed characters in the books. I would like better choices.

Anyway, Balto was the only Step-3 book in the store that did NOT have a Princess or SpongeBob on the cover, so we got it. I expected to get some flack from the child who is afraid of dogs, but he liked it fairly well.

Balto is a sled dog in 1925 who participates in a relay. The purpose is to bring medicine to an Alaskan town with a diphtheria epidemic, carrying it through a driving blizzard and terrible conditions. Balto had the second-to-last leg of the relay, but when it was time to hand off to another team, the other team was not there. So Balto and his team kept going. Since he was the dog who made it into town with the medicine, he got the credit for the whole adventure! We talked about the other dog teams and drivers who had to come through the deep snow, and how all those teams working together got the job done.

Here is what the first grader liked best about the story (his words):
+ There is a map. Maps are good.
+ The dog kept going.
+ The doctor helped the sick children.
+ I like the picture of the statue of Balto.
+ Balto was a hero.

Here is what the Mom liked in the story:
+ It would have been easy to quit, but the driver and his sled team kept going, despite miserable conditions.
+ The words were just challenging enough.
+ I liked the map, too.
+ The illustrations are wonderful. The book has fairly many pages (48), but the pictures keep up the excitement.
+ There really is a statue of Balto in Central Park, and you can google it to see the real statue (of course, if you live near NYC, you can see it live!)

As far as reading levels go, I would say level 3 is a pretty good judgment. My son was reading phonics readers and step 1 readers over the summer, and his confidence is building. This book did not frustrate him, but it took him a while to sound out some of the words. I had to help with the names of some towns and complicated words (Anchorage, diphtheria). The rest, he did himself.

This is a wonderful story for children. It is also enjoyable for adults.

It is a true story and there is a statue of Balto in Central park in New York City.

Although this is an inspiring and well-written piece of literature, the fact is that, even though Balto took the medicine 53 miles, his was the last leg of the relay. There were other teams of dogs who traveled farther and longer than Balto's team, and they received none of the credit afterwards. I suppose it's the politics of heroism, which is sad, but they should still be acknowledged for having gotten the medicine far enough for Balto to see it delivered safely to the sick people.

I teach an afterschool literacy program for children in 3rd-6th grades. My 3rd grade struggling readers loved this story! However, you need to give them the background information ahead of time for them to get the most out of this story. We looked at copies of the original news stories and pictures of the real Balto, read books about Alaska and the Iditarod Race, and learned about "dogs with jobs" before we opened this book. The easy reading level and great illustrations made this a joy to read for my reluctant readers. They wrote a "missing chapter" of the dogs' journey to Nome. Fantastic!

...can keep these packs of hardy huskies and malamutes from delivering the antitoxin to Nome during the 1925 Diptheria Epidemic!

No train can get through due to the snow. The train that was originally transporting the medicine got mired in snow, more than 700 miles from its destination. Only a sled team of hardy dogs can reach the stricken town. Balto, the lead dog on one of the latter legs of that fateful run led a team of hardy malamutes and huskies some 53 miles. He led the team through adverse weather and land conditions including blizzards and a froxen river. The curly tailed dog is credited for seeing the medicine through; it is on his run that the medicine arrived 10 days ahead of schedule.

This book will delight and excite young readers who will wait with baited breath (even though they know the malamute team will reach the town like the Calvary). The delightful illustrations make a good thing even better. The history of the hardy Eskimo dog, the sled dog driver and the dog teams will provide a part of history that will be revived and discussed for a long time to come. Adding the map of the dog sled trail was an excellent teaching device.

My students enjoyed the book and it tied nicely into our unit on Alaskan sled dogs. Good history tie in as well.

Just so you'd know, this book is not denouncing Togo. It is merely telling Balto's side of the story. And it is a courageous one taht deserves to be well-known. There.

One day, a serious diptheria epidemic breaks out in Nome. Sled dogs are selected to deliver serum to the town before time runs out. Will they succeed?

This compelling book tells the story of Balto's brave and graet contribution to this race (he never tried to claim all the credit!), and I would recommend it even to Leonhard Seppala, so he would stop despising Balto, but sadly, he is now dead.

We purchased this book after seeing the real Balto (courtesy of the art of taxidermy) at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Our quest in Northeast Ohio, where Balto enjoyed his senior years, was prompted by my seven year-old daughter's love-affair with the animated film about this dog, who navigated a lost sled team carrying life-saving medicine through Alaska in 1925. I hereby confess publicly that, after myself reading the book, which is aimed at the 9 year-old set, I cried, much as I had done 35 years before after reading "Lassie Come Home." This account, however, is much more compelling than "Lassie" or "Old Yeller," because it entirely factual (possibly excepting the subjective thoughts imputed to the protagonist).

The author did her homework researching this story about a sled dog who was just one of the pack facing poor odds against daunting weather and unrequiting expanses of blinding snow and ice. When the alpha dog loses the trail, and another refuses to lead, the team turns to Balto to bring them and their cargo safely to rest in Nome.

Perhaps Balto deserves an authentic, grown-up biography, but this one will serve in the meantime. It appears to be the definitive account.

This is an excellent book if you are interested in the Iditarod race in Alaska.The book helps young children understand the importance of perserverence and is a great introduction to history for the very young (6-8).A true story that inspires people to understand the bond between animals and people.

If you love the Iditarod and you want your children (or children you're fond of) to be introduced to this great race, the story of Balto and the Great Race by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel is a good place to start, beginning with the cover illustration by Nora Köerber. This book is a Stepping Stones chapter book with black and white illustrations throughout.

At the beginning of the book is a map of Alaska showing the Iditarod railroad and dogsled trail, along with some illustrations depicting the basic story of this great race against time to get much-needed diphtheria serum to Nome in 1925.

Balto is a Siberian husky born to run, and to lead. He guided his musher, Gunnar Kaasen, into Nome on the final leg of the journey, when only this magnificent dog could sense the way through a terrible, deadly blizzard with no trail to follow and wind at such strength it tossed Kaasen and dogsled into the air, almost losing their precious cargo. A short time before this near disaster, Balto saved the team from going through the ice to certain death. His instincts were in the realm of the supernatural and his devotion to the task at hand human in awareness.

It states on the back cover that this book is for children in grades 1-3. As the Cleveland Museum of Natural History states on the same back cover, "Balto's story is one of courage, cooperation and inspiration, and personal sacrifice for the greater good."

Carolyn Rowe Hill

Stewart O'Nan is a remarkable writer. You can stack this guy right up there with all the giants of great literature. His prose is smooth and haunting, his plots nightmarish and unrelenting studies of human beings in terrifying situations. Don't miss out on this guy's writing.

A Prayer For The Dying is no less a haunting journey through a dark abyss than his other novels. A town faces a diphtheria outbreak set back in the days after the Civil War, and O'Nan writes this narrative in a powerful way that puts you right in the shoes of the town's undertaker, Jacob Hansen.

This story is written in a way that forces you to see everything the undertaker sees, do everything he must do as his town slowly succumbs to a deadly epidemic that cannot be stopped.

I would call this literary horror. It has all the atmosphere and golden prose that a classic has, with the terrifying specifics of a town in the grips of a plague that will not end until it has killed everyone.

The book is only 195 pages long, but at the end, you feel like you've just read an epic masterpiece.

It's that good.

I agree with other reviewers that this book was haunting and uniquely written. That alone makes it worth the read, however this alone couldn't redeem the other lackluster qualities. In a sense, what made it a good book also detracted from it somewhat.

The writing style for instance, is definitely unique and takes some getting used to. I'm an avid reader and you don't want to go from a "page turner" type book to this one. It had me completely thrown off base for the first part of the book. This was irritating because it felt disjointed, slow and boring. Maybe that was the intention. If so it was successful in that regards.

I've read 500+ page books quicker than this little book specifically because of how difficult it was to read it.

As far as the content, it was somewhat predictable at least to me. During no part of the story or the unfolding of events did I find anything at any time "surprising."

This was my first experience with O'nan as a writer. I don't feel particularly compelled to read any more of his works as I sometimes do with other authors. If you're trying to decide whether to buy this book or check it out first at the library, I recommend the library.

I began reading O'Nan because Stephen King mentioned him as a favorite of his - and that was good enough for me. This book is gut-wrenching, heart-breaking and very frightening. It made me wonder how I would react to the ever-increasing sad events that the book's characters endure. And that was not pleasant to consider - which is one reason this book grips the reader so hard. It was hard to put down yet I found myself almost dreading what was to come next. I understand why King is a "fan."

A PRAYER FOR THE DYING is possibly the most emotionally-shattering novel I've ever read. O'Nan knows the way to quickly lure the reader into the lives of his characters and then skewer you with trauma. In this one, Yellow Fever strikes down a small midwest town shortly after the civil war had ended and we watch as its preacher/sheriff goes mad from his ineffectualism and heartbreak. Love it or hate it, this is one novel you'll never forget.

Whoa and yikes! This was one dark, dark tale. Told to us by Narrator Jacob Hansen who speaks to himself in the third person. Which is an interesting way to narrate a novel.

Jacob is the town of Friendship's sheriff, undertaker and pastor. Six years after the end of the civil war an epidemic of diphtheria overtakes Friendship. Jacob is called upon to attend to the sick and dying with the town's doctor.

As the epidemic spreads so does wild fire that threatens both the healthy and the suffering. Jacob feels responsible to keep the people outside of friendship safe from the townspeople's illness and at the same time save the survivors of Friendship from the wild fire. A seemingly impossible task.

In taking the second victim of the illness to the doctor's she says to Jacob
"In Heaven you forget everything. In Hell they make you remember"
No you think it's the other way around. "Maybe so" you say.

A thoughtful question, which way is it? Which would you prefer?

This is a dark and sometimes gruesome tale that tells of the horror of war and illness and the hard choices that survivors must sometimes make.
As well as the consequences of loss.

This was very well done...now I need something light to read!